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THE  ^'EMDEN' 


KAPITANLEUTNANT  VON  MUCKE 


The   "EMDEN" 


BY 

Kapitanleutnant 
HELLMUTH  von  MUCKE 

TRANSLATED  BY  HELENE   S.   WHITE 


RITTER   &   COMPANY 


'^<';. 


^i' 


Copyright,  191 7,  by 
RITTER  &  COMPANY 

AU  rights  reserved  including  the  translation 
into  foreign  languages,  including  the  Scandinavian 


'^e^la^i^.cx     3<^i^\0'?> 


•    •  •* 


•   •••  ••  •'• 


THE -PLIMPTON -PRESS 
MOEWOOO-UASS'U*S-A 


FOREWORD 

As  Kapitanleutnant  von  Miicke  witnessed 
the  "Emden's"  final  battle  from  a  distance 
only,  we  have  no  detailed  account  of  the 
gallant  cruiser's  last  fight.  We  do  know, 
however,  from  statements  made  by  sur- 
vivors, that,  owing  to  a  lack  of  ammunition 
and  the  crippling  of  her  steering  gear,  the 
"Emden"  was  finally  placed  at  the  mercy 
of  her  foe.  She  was  then  run  aground 
on  the  reefs  of  North  Keeling  Island 
at  so  tremendous  a  speed  that  the  man 
at  the  wheel  was  instantly  killed  by 
the  terrific  impact.  To  the  enemy's  signal, 
calling  for  surrender,  the  customary  reply 
could  not  be  given,  as  the  long  continued 
battle  had  left  but  three  able-bodied  sea- 

88S600 


vi  FOREWORD 

men,  charged  with  this  duty,  to  fulfil  it. 
Hereupon  the  British  cruiser  fired  two 
more  broadsides  into  the  stranded  ship. 

Finally,  at  the  order  of  the  "  Emden's  '* 
Commander,  some  of  the  survivors  ran  up 
something  white.  Before  the  ship  was 
surrendered,  the  German  flag  was  torn 
into  shreds  and  cast  into  the  sea. 

More  than  two  years  later  the  English 
succeeded  in  salving  the  "Emden,"  and 
she  is  now  to  fight  for  the  enemy  she  once 
pursued. 

It  was  from  Tsingtao,  the  charming 
home  port  of  the  German  East  Asiatic 
squadron,  that  the  "Emden"  sailed  forth 
upon  her  last  cruise.  The  Germans, 
regarded  this  port  as  the  symbol  of  the 
open  door,  and  of  the  equal  right  of  all 
nations  to  enter  the  markets  of  the  far 
East.  In  its  loss  they  recognize  the  fulfil- 
ment of  the  persistent  but  covert  English 
purpose  to  deny  to  Germany  all  overseas 


FOREWORD  vii 

expansion  beyond  the  limit  of  English 
tolerance. 

Individually  and  as  a  nation  the  Ger- 
mans have  accepted  the  challenge.  As 
masters  of  their  destiny  and  as  a  liberty 
loving  people  they  are,  of  course,  vastly 
more  interested  in  the  overthrow  of 
England's  latent  sovereignty  of  the  world 
than  in  England's  political  creed.  The 
object  of  the  German  desire  is  to  obtain 
habitable  colonial  territory  where  an  over- 
flowing population  may  live  and  remain 
German  instead  of  feeding  other  nations 
with  German  blood.  This  is  pointed  out, 
as  otherwise  certain  passages  in  the  first 
chapter  might  seem  strangely  out  of  place 
in  this  story  of  heroic  adventures. 

At  the  author's  request  the  title  he  bears 
as  an  officer  in  the  Imperial  German  navy 
is  retained  in  the  translation.  In  doing 
his  part  for  his  country's  defence,  he  evi- 
dently agrees  with  Goethe: 


viii  FOREWORD 

"The  riding  heroes  on  solid  land 
Of  greatest  moment  now  may  be  — 
If  I  but  had  the  full  command. 
On  Neptune's  horse  Fd  skim  the  sea!" 

ThEODOR  J.    RiTTER 
Boston,  Mass. 
March,  191 7. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Kapitanleutnant  von  Miicke Frontispiece 

Commander  von  Miiller 20 

"The  Emden" 100 

Map  showing  the  course  of  "The  Emden".  .  .      210 


I 

OUR  FIRST  PRIZE 


THE   "EMDEN" 


Chapter  I 
OUR  FIRST  PRIZE 

"All  hands  aft,"  shrilled  the  whistles 
of  the  boatswain's  mate  through  all  the 
ship's  decks.  Quickly  all  the  officers  and 
crew  assembled  on  the  after  deck.  Every- 
one knew  what  it  was  for. 

It  was  at  two  o'clock  on  the  afternoon 
of  the  second  day  of  August,  1914,  while 
our  ship  lay  far  out  in  the  Yellow  Sea, 
that  Captain  von  Mueller  appeared  on 
the  poop,  holding  in  his  hand  a  slip  of 
paper  such  as  is  used  for  messages  by 
wireless.     In  eager  expectancy  three  hun- 


THE   "EMDEN" 


dred  pairs  of  eyes  v/ere  fixed  upon  the  lips 
of  our  Commander  as  he  began  to  speak. 

"The  following  wireless  message  has 
just  been  received  from  Tsingtao:  *0n 
August  first,  his  Majesty,  the  Emperor, 
ordered  the  mobilization  of  the  entire 
land  and  naval  forces  of  the  Empire. 
Russian  troops  have  crossed  the  border 
into  Germany.  As  a  consequence,  the 
Empire  is  at  war  with  Russia  and  with 
France. 

"*And  so,  what  we  have  expected  for 
years  has  come  about.  Before  war  had 
been  declared,  hostile  hordes  have  violated 
German  territory. 

"'For  forty-four  years  the  German  sword 
has  not  been  drawn  from  its  scabbard, 
although  during  this  time  there  has  been 
more  than  one  occasion  when  it  might 
have  been  unsheathed  for  conquest.  But 
never  have  conquests  by  violence  been  the 


OUR   FIRST   PRIZE 


objects  of  German  ambition.  In  peace- 
able competition,  by  diligence  and  labor, 
by  commercial  and  industrial  efficiency,  by 
high  intellectual  and  educational  attain- 
ment, by  honesty  and  reliability  the  Ger- 
man people  have  secured  for  themselves 
a  place  of  honor  among  the  nations.  To- 
day the  German  Empire  is  an  object  of 
envy  to  those  who  failed  to  accomplish 
as  much.  Being  convinced  of  their  own 
inability  by  peaceable  methods  to  com- 
pete successfully  with  the  nation  that  out- 
ranks them  in  learning  and  education,  in 
technical  and  scientific  skill,  in  short,  by 
the  advanced  state  of  its  civilization  and 
its  culture,  they  now  hope  to  accomplish 
their  purpose  by  letting  loose  upon  the 
German  people  the  furies  of  war,  and 
by  an  appeal  to  the  sword  to  gain  the 
end  they  have  failed  to  obtain  by  moral 
and  intellectual  achievement.     It  now  re- 


THE   "EMDEN 


mains  for  us  to  show  them  that  the  virile 
German  nation  can  successfully  meet  this 
test  of  its  strength  also. 

"^The  victory  will  be  no  easy  one.  For 
many  years  our  enemies  have  been  pre- 
paring for  this  war.  To  be,  or  not  to  be, 
that  is  the  question  for  our  nation  today. 
But  we  shall  prove  ourselves  worthy  of 
our  fathers,  and  of  our  ancient  heritage, 
—  we  shall  endure  to  the  end,  though  a 
world  in  arms  arise  against  us.' 

"It  is  my  intention  to  proceed  at  once 
in  the  direction  of  Vladivostok.  Our  first 
duty  is  to  raid  the  commerce  of  the  enemy. 
In  so  far  as  can  be  estimated  at  pres- 
ent, the  French  and  Russian  warships  are 
assembled  in  greatest  strength  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Vladivostok.  It  is  therefore 
probable  that  we  shall  encounter  them. 
In  that  event,  I  feel  confident  that  I  can 
rely  upon  my  men." 


OUR   FIRST   PRIZE 


Three  cheers  for  his  Majesty,  the  Em- 
peror, rang  out  over  the  broad  surface  of 
the  Yellow  Sea.  Then  came  the  order 
that  sent  every  man  to  his  post,  —  "Clear 
ship  for  action." 

And  so  it  had  come  to  pass  —  the  war 
was  upon  us!  The  outcry  for  revenge 
that  has  been  incessantly  raised  to  the 
west  of  us,  and  that  has  been  especially 
clamorous  ever  since  Germany  ventured 
to  retake  with  the  sword  territory  which, 
since  time  immemorial,  had  formed  a 
part  of  the  German  Empire,  but  which,  at 
the  time  of  her  impotence  and  disruption, 
was  wrested  from  her  to  gratify  French 
lust  for  conquest  —  this  persistent  cry  for 
revenge  had  at  last  achieved  its  purpose. 
Again  the  game  of  war  was  to  be  played, 
and  again  the  leaden  dice  were  to  be  cast. 
But  this  time,  not  merely  for  the  posses- 
sion of  Elsass-Lothringen,  —  much  more  was 


THE   "EMDEN" 


to  be  at  stake.  As  yet,  only  Russia  and 
France  were  to  be  faced.  But  for  years 
it  has  been  evident  that  behind  these  two 
powers  stands  another,  the  enemy  of  all 
others,  one  who  for  centuries  has  contrived 
to  spill  the  warm  red  blood  of  other  races 
for  the  purpose  of  furthering  her  owr 
interests,  —  England !  Three  decades  ago, 
when  the  French  had  dared  to  cross  the 
English  plans  for  colonization  in  Africa, 
they  were  forced  to  their  knees  and  deeply 
humiliated  at  Fashoda.  When  Englanc 
had  become  alarmed  at  Russia's  progress 
in  the  far  East,  that  country's  defeat  ai 
the  hands  of  Japan,  in  1904,  was  broughi 
about.  Ever  since  these  two  rivals  were 
thus  disposed  of,  England  has  directec 
their  attention  toward  seeking  compensa- 
tion elsewhere  for  that  which  Englist 
greed  for  wealth  and  power  denied  tc 
them   in   Asia   and    in   Africa.     Humblec 


OUR  FIRST  PRIZE 


France  and  defeated  Russia  must  be  in- 
duced to  serve  England's  purpose  to  annihi- 
late Germany.  In  the  German  Empire, 
strong  in  the  vigor  of  youth,  England 
recognized  her  most  dangerous  rival.  By 
peaceful  methods  the  English  could  not 
hope  to  compete  successfully  with  German 
science  and  technique,  with  German  com- 
mercial and  industrial  efficiency.  Inch  by 
inch  the  Union  Jack  has  given  place  in 
the  world  of  commerce  to  the  flag  of  the 
Empire.  In  peaceable  competition,  England 
found  herself  to  be  no  match  for  Germany. 
Nor  has  the  venomous  slander  of  the 
Germans,  which  British  cables  have  carried 
all  over  the  world,  accomplished  the  desired 
end.  The  English  purse  is  in  jeopardy. 
Therefore  the  old  method  must  be  resorted 
to  again:   "Sink,  burn,  destroy!" 

Just   how   England   would    achieve   her 
purpose   was    still   uncertain.     Would    she 


lo  THE   "EMDEN 


continue  in  her  traditional  way,  and,  by 
entangling  others,  induce  them  to  fight 
her  battles  for  her,  thus  leaving  her  free 
to  fish  in  muddy  waters?  Or  would  she 
take  a  hand  in  the  war  herself,  for  fear  the 
strength  of  her  credulous  and  infatuated 
dupes  might  not  prove  sufficient,  unaided, 
to  accomplish  the  English  purpose?  No 
righteous  cause  exists  for  England  to  take 
up  arms  against  us.  But  that  has  little  to 
do  with  the  matter,  as  the  history  of  the 
island  nation  attests.  Lack  of  a  sufficient 
reason  has  never  deterred  England,  when  a 
desired  end  was  to  be  obtained.  At  such 
times,  the  right  and  the  law  have  ever 
been  matters  of  supreme  indifference  to 
England,  nor  has  she  ever  failed  to  find  a 
mantle  of  hypocritical  righteousness  with 
which  to  clothe  her  purpose. 

Surely,   Lord   Derby,  one  of  England's 
ablest  statesmen  of  the  nineteenth  century, 


OUR  FIRST  PRIZ:e  ii 

understood  his  own  people  well  when  he 
said  of  them  in  Parliament:  Our  conduct 
with  regard  to  other  nations  is  shameful. 
We  insist  upon  a  strict  adherence  to 
international  law  whenever  it  is  to  our 
advantage  to  do  so;  when  otherwise,  we 
disregard  it  utterly.  The  history  of  marine 
law,  or,  I  might  say,  marine  lawlessness, 
is  an  indelible  witness  to  the  unbridled 
selfishness  and  greed  of  the  English  people 
and  of  their  government. 

Thus  Lord  Derby. 

There  is  not  a  nation  on  earth  that 
has  not  suffered  the  consequences  of  Eng- 
lish selfishness  and  greed,  —  Spain,  whose 
flourishing  commerce  and  colonial  empire 
were  annihilated  by  the  English  sword, 
and  who  still  must  endure  her  thorn  in  the 
flesh,  Gibraltar;  Holland,  whose  pros- 
perity was  drained  by  the  English  vampire, 
and  who  has   England   to  thank  for  the 


12  THE   "EMDEN" 

position  of  insignificance  which  has  re- 
placed her  former  greatness;  Denmark, 
whose  fleet  was  attacked  and  carried  off 
by  the  English  in  1807,  at  a  time  when  the 
two  countries  were  absolutely  at  peace, 
and  Copenhagen  bombarded  and  destroyed 
by  fire  before  ever  there  was  a  thought  of 
war;  China,  which  in  1840  was  overrun 
with  war  because  the  Chinese  refused  to 
buy  opium  of  the  English  merchants; 
Egypt,  which  England  wrested  from  the 
Turkish  Empire,  and  whose  people  now 
are  compelled  to  get  their  dearly  bought 
bread  from  England,  to  increase  that 
country's  tariff  receipts,  while,  at  her 
orders,  the  land,  in  this  granary  of  the 
ancient  world,  is  planted  with  cotton  in- 
stead of  grain,  to  the  end  that  England 
may  be  independent  of  America  with 
regard  to  this  product;  India,  where  pesti- 
lence and  famine-typhus,  and  an  enforced 


OUR   FIRST   PRIZE  13 

payment  of  an  annual  tribute  of  one  and 
one  half  billions  are  the  blessings  bestowed 
by  English  culture,  and  against  which  the 
crushed  and  exploited  people  of  India 
strive  in  vain;  the  Boer  States,  that  were 
coveted  and  therefore  subjugated  by  Eng- 
land because  of  their  gold  and  diamond 
mines;  Turkey,  upon  the  dismemberment 
of  which  England  has  long  been  bent; 
France,  humiliated  at  Fashoda;  Russia, 
against  whom  Japan  was  incited;  Portugal, 
now  no  more  than  England's  vassal ;  Italy, 
to  whom  territorial  expansion  in  Africa 
was  denied;  even  America,  where  England 
made  the  attempt  to  forbid  the  construc- 
tion and  fortification  of  the  Panama  Canal, 
and  where  the  public  is  not  allowed  to 
learn  of  world  events  except  through  Eng- 
lish sources  and  according  to  English 
interpretation.  Having  lost  her  political 
hold  on  America,  England  fell  back  upon 


14  THE   "EMDEN 


the  principle:  "Ignorance  is  the  chief 
factor  in  intellectual  conflicts  as  it  is  in 
physical  strife  between  nations/'  and  forth- 
with proceeded  to  take  advantage  of  her 
cables  in  order  .to  surround  the  "free 
nation"  by  such  an  atmosphere  of  false- 
hood that  today  it  is  impossible  for 
Americans  to  form  an  unbiassed  opinion, 
and  they  can  but  echo  the  sentiments  of 
England.  With  respect  to  the  formation 
of  opinion  and  judgment,  the  Americans 
are  in  subjection  to  England  intellectually, 
quite  as  much  as  are  politically  the  races 
that  England  has  subjugated  with  the 
sword. 
t  As  for  English  truthfulness,  Thomas 
Carlyle  portrays  it  aptly  when  he  says: 
Englishmen  no  longer  dare  to  believe  the 
truth.  For  two  centuries  they  have  been 
surrounded  by  falsehood  of  every  kind. 
They  regard  the  truth  as  dangerous,  and 


OUR   FIRST   PRIZE  15 

everywhere  we  see  them  striving  to  modify 
it  by  bidding  a  lie  go  with  it,  the  two 
harnessed  together.  This  they  term  the 
safe  middle  path. 

And  so  there  is  hardly  a  race  on  the  face 
of  the  earth  that  is  not  wearing  shackles, 
political  or  moral,  that  England's  un- 
bounded selfishness  and  greed  have  forged. 
With  the  German  Empire  only  have  Eng- 
land's methods  failed.  Therefore,  France 
and  Russia,  together  with  the  regicides  of 
Sarajevo  as  fitting  henchmen  and  accom- 
plices, were  now  to  be  employed  to  achieve 
England's  purpose  for  her.  Should  they 
prove  insufficient,  however,  then  England 
herself  would  take  a  hand.  Some  plausible 
excuse  for  making  war  upon  Germany 
will  be  trumped  up  by  England  to  satisfy 
her  own  people  and  the  world  in  general. 
Hypocritically  righteous  reasons  for  her 
actions  England   has  never  been  at  a  loss 


\ 


i6  THE   "EMDEN" 

to  find.  Today  the  English  purpose  will 
hardly  be  expressed  as  candidly  as  it  was 
two  hundred  years  ago  when  the  destruc- 
tion of  Dutch  commerce  was  the  object 
desired.  At  that  time,  when  the  men 
who  wished  to  make  war  upon  Holland 
were  seeking  for  a  "reason"  for  doing  so, 
the  English  admiral  exclaimed:  "Reasons? 
Why  should  we  look  for  reasons  .f*  What 
we  want  is  more  of  the  commerce  that 
the  Dutch  now  control.  That  is  reason 
enough." 

Now  it  is  Germany's  turn.  As  early  as 
1907,  an  English  publication,  "The  Satur- 
day Review,"  said:  England's  prosperity 
will  never  be  assured  until  Germany  has 
been  destroyed.  Were  Germany  to  be 
wiped  from  the  face  of  the  earth  to-morrow, 
there  is  not  an  Englishman  in  the  world 
who  would  not  be  the  richer  for  it  on  the 
day  after  to-morrow.     Nations  have  fought 


OUR   FIRST  PRIZE  17 

for  years  over  territory,  or  over  the  right 
of  succession,  —  why  then  should  they 
not  go  to  war  to  secure  commerce  that  is 
worth  so  many  bilUons  a  year  to  them? 

Yes,  the  EngUsh  will  surely  join  our 
enemies,  but  not  until  such  a  time  as 
seems  most  favorable  to  them.  Whether 
now,  or  later,  whether  by  an  immediate 
participation  in  the  war,  or  not  until 
towards  the  end,  when  Germany  has  been 
weakened,  we  cannot  tell.  But  attack  us, 
they  surely  will.  For  this  is  England's 
war,  to  which  she  has  been  inciting  the 
nations  for  years  past.  The  last  free 
country  is  now  to  feel  the  onslaught  of 
England's  uncurbed  selfishness  and  greed. 

"Guns  ready!"  "Torpedo  service  ready!" 
"Engines  and  auxiliary  engines  ready!" 
"Leak  service  ready!"  "Steering  service 
ready!"  "Signal  and  wireless  service 
ready!" 


i8  THE   "EMDEN 


Rapidly,  one  after  the  other,  the  reports 
from  all  over  the  ship  were  now  coming  in, 
and  demanded  my  attention  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  all  further  thought  and  reflection. 
A  quick  tour  of  inspection  through  the  ship 
assured  me  that  all  was  in  readiness,  and 
I  could  report  to  our  Commander,  "The 
ship  is  clear  for  action." 

At  a  speed  of  fifteen  nautical  miles  we 
were  proceeding  toward  the  Strait  of  Tchu- 
sima.  When  darkness  came  on,  the  war 
watch  was  begun  on  the  "Emden,"  which 
is  done  in  the  following  manner:  Half  of 
the  men  of  the  crew  remain  awake  and  on 
duty  at  their  posts,  —  at  the  guns,  at  the 
searchlights  and  lookouts,  in  the  torpedo 
room,  in  the  engine  and  fire  rooms,  etc., 
while  the  others  are  allowed  to  go  to  sleep 
with  their  clothes  on,  and  ready,  at  a 
moment's  notice,  to  get  to  their  posts. 
The  commander  of  the  ship  takes  charge 


OUR  FIRST  PRIZE  19 

of  one  of  these  watches,  and  the  other  one 
is  in  command  of  the  first  officer. 

After  passing  through  the  Strait  of 
Tchusima,  the  "Emden"  steered  north- 
ward. There  was  no  moon,  and  the  night 
was  pitch  black.  It  was  too  dark  to  see 
anything  even  in  our  immediate  vicinity. 
We  were,  of  course,  traveUing  with  all 
lights  screened.  Not  a  ray  of  light  was 
allowed  to  escape  from  the  ship,  nor  the 
least  bit  of  smoke  from  her  funnels.  There 
was  a  moderate  sea  running,  and  the 
water  was  unusually  bright  with  phosphor- 
escence. The  water  churned  up  by  our 
screws  stretched  away  behind  the  ship  in 
a  shimmering  wake  of  light  green.  The 
waves  dashing  high  up  against  the  bow, 
and  the  water  tumbling  and  breaking 
against  the  sides,  splashed  the  whole  ship 
with  a  phosphorescent  glitter,  and  made 
her  appear  as  though  she  had  been  dipped 


20  THE   "EMDEN 


into  molten  gold  of  a  greenish  hue.  Occa- 
sionally, there  appeared  in  the  water  large 
shining  spots  of  great  length,  so  that  a 
number  of  times  the  lookouts  reported 
undersea  boats  in  sight. 

At  four  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  port 
war  watch,  which  I  commanded,  was  re- 
lieved. The  Commander  now  took  charge. 
The  day  was  just  dawning.  I  had  just 
gone  to  my  cabin,  and  had  lain  down 
to  rest,  when  I  was  wakened  by  the  shrill 
call  of  the  alarm  bells  and  the  loud 
noise  of  many  hurrying  feet.  "Clear  ship 
for  action,"  the  order  went  echoing  from 
room  to  room.  In  an  instant  everyone 
was  at  his  post.  Were  we  really  to  be  so 
fortunate  as  to  fall  in,  on  our  very  first 
day,  with  one  of  the  Russian  or  French 
ships  that  had  been  reported  to  us  as  being 
in  the  vicinity  of  Vladivostok? 

By  the  trembling  of  the  ship  we  could 


COMMANDER  VON  MULLER 


OUR  FIRST  PRIZE  21 

tell  that  the  engine  had  been  put  on  high 
speed.  In  the  gray  of  the  early  morning 
we  sighted,  ahead  of  us  and  a  little  to 
the  right,  a  vessel  somewhat  larger  than 
our  own,  which  was  also  travelling  with 
screened  lights,  and  looked  like  a  man  of 
war.  Our  Commander  ordered  a  course 
toward  her  at  high  speed.  Hardly  had 
she  seen  us  when  she  turned  hard  about, 
took  the  contrary  course,  and  ran  away 
from  us,  the  dense  column  of  smoke  rising 
from  her  funnels  indicating  that  her  engines 
were  working  at  maximum  power.  The 
pursued  ship  took  a  course  directly  toward 
the  Japanese  Islands,  lying  about  ten 
miles  distant.  A  black  cloud  of  smoke 
streamed  behind  her,  rested  on  the  water, 
and,  for  a  while,  hid  her  from  sight  entirely. 
We  could  see  nothing  of  her  but  the  mast 
tops,  and  so  found  it  impossible  to  discover 
the  nature  of  the  vessel  with  which  we 


22  THE   "EMDEN 


were  dealing.  That  she  was  not  a  neutral 
was  evident  enough  from  her  behavior. 
Therefore,  after  her  with  full  speed ! 

Meanwhile,  daylight  had  come.  The 
signal:  "Stop  at  once!"  was  flying  at  our 
foremast.  When  this  demand  was  not 
complied  with  after  a  reasonable  time,  we 
fired  a  blind  shell,  and  when  this  also 
failed  to  have  the  desired  effect,  we  sent 
a  quick  reminder  in  the  form  of  a  couple 
of  sharp  shots  after  her.  The  fleeing  ship 
could  no  longer  hope  to  reach  the  neutral 
waters  of  Japan.  When  our  shots  fell 
into  the  water  close  beside  her,  she  stopped, 
turned,  and  set  the  Russian  colors  in  all 
her  topmasts.  So,  on  the  very  first  night 
after  the  war  had  begun,  we  had  taken  our 
first  prize.  It  was  the  Russian  volunteer 
steamer  "Rjesan."  In  time  of  peace  she 
had  plied  as  a  passenger  steamer  between 
Shanghai  and  Vladivostok.     She  was  now 


OUR   FIRST   PRIZE  23 

to  be  armed  with  guns  and  to  serve 
as  an  auxiliary  cruiser.  She  was  a  speedy 
and  very  new  ship,  built  in  the  German 
ship  yards  of  Schichau. 

In  the  sea  that  was  running,  the 
"Emden"  and  her  prize  rolled  badly.  It 
was  therefore  no  easy  matter  to  get  the 
cutter,  that  was  to  carry  the  prize  crew 
from  the  *'Emden"  to  the  "Rjesan,"  into 
the  water.  There  was  danger  that  it  would 
be  pounded  to  pieces  against  the  sides 
of  the  ships.  However,  everything  passed 
off  satisfactorily.  In  a  short  time  we  saw 
the  officer  of  the  prize  crew,  followed  by 
a  number  of  men,  all  armed  with  pistols, 
climbing  up  the  gangway  ladder.  The 
Russian  flag  was  hauled  down,  and  in  its 
place  the  German  colors  were  run  up. 

As  the  steamer  was  one  that  could  serve 
our  own  purposes  excellently  well  —  she 
could   be   transformed    into   a   very   good 


24  THE   "EMDEN" 

German  auxiliary  cruiser  —  our  Com- 
mander decided  not  to  destroy  her,  but 
instead  to  take  her  to  Tsingtao.  At  a 
speed  of  fifteen  miles  we  made  our  way 
southward.  Behind  us,  in  our  wake,  fol- 
lowed the  "Rjesan."  A  commanding  officer 
with  a  prize  crew  of  twelve  men  remained 
aboard  of  her,  to  make  certain  that  the 
service  of  the  ship  and  the  engines,  etc., 
would  be  according  to  our  wishes. 

Twice  the  Russian  captain  of  the  "Rje- 
san"  made  a  vehement  protest  against  the 
capture  of  his  ship,  saying  that  she  was  a 
peaceable  merchantman,  that  to  seize  her 
was  an  unprecedented  violation  of  law, 
and  that  he  could  not  understand  it  at  all. 
However,  when  we  asked  him  why,  if  that 
was  the  case,  he  had  tried  to  run  away 
from  us,  he  had  nothing  more  to  say. 
His  knowledge  of  maritime  law  was  evi- 
dently  nothing  to    boast    of.     Our   Com- 


OUR   FIRST  PRIZE  25 

mander  sent  him  word  that  his  case  would 
be  decided  at  Tsingtao,  whither  we  were 
going. 

'I  The  "Emden"  did  not,  however,  steer 
the  most  direct  course  to  Tsingtao.  Hardly- 
had  the  Russian  captain  of  our  prize  ob- 
served this,  when  he  protested  afresh, 
demanding  to  be  taken  to  port  by  the 
shortest  route.  The  reason  for  this  was, 
of  course,  his  apprehension  that,  on  the 
course  we  were  following,  we  would  be 
likely  to  meet  other  Russian  ships  that 
were  in  the  vicinity.  And,  it  must  be 
admitted,  this  zuas  our  intention.  To  be 
sure,  we  had  no  information  with  regard 
to  the  course  that  the  Russian  ships  were 
taking,  but,  judging  from  the  violent  re- 
monstrances of  the  captain,  we  concluded 
that  there  was  good  prospect  that  we 
should  come  up  with  one  or  two  of  them 
before  long.     Much  to  our  regret,  however. 


26  THE   "EMDEN" 

not  one  came  in  sight.  Naturally,  no 
regard  was  given  to  the  captain's  protests, 
and  our  Commander  sent  him  word  in- 
forming him  that  the  **Emden's"  course 
was  no  concern  of  his,  and  reminding  him 
of  what  are  the  usual  consequences  of 
insubordination  on  board  ship.  After  that, 
we  heard  nothing  more  from  our  Russian 
friend.  He  probably  consoled  himself  after 
his  own  fashion. 

From  the  newspapers,  we  had  learned 
that  the  main  body  of  the  French  fleet, 
consisting  of  the  armored  cruisers  "Mont- 
calm" and  "Dupleix,"  besides  a  number  of 
torpedo  boat  destroyers,  was  lying  some- 
where off  Vladivostok.  With  these  ships 
the  "Emden"  must  not  be  allowed  to 
come  in  contact  by  daylight.  As  we  were 
rounding  the  southern  extremity  of  Corea, 
the  lookout  in  the  top  suddenly  sang  out, 
"Seven    smoke    clouds    in    sight    astern!" 


OUR   FIRST   PRIZE  27 

To  make  quite  sure  of  it,  the  Commander 
sent  me  aloft.  I,  too,  could  distinctly 
see  seven  separate  columns  of  smoke, 
together  with  the  upper  structure  of  a 
small  vessel,  the  one  nearest  to  us,  just 
above  the  horizon.  Upon  hearing  my  re- 
port, the  Commander  gave  orders  to  change 
our  course.  We  swept  a  wide  circle,  and 
so  avoided  the  enemy.  Without  meeting 
with  hindrance  of  any  kind,  we  arrived  at 
Tsingtao. 

On  the  way  we  caught  up  an  interesting 
wireless  message.  The  Renter  Agency,  so 
celebrated  for  its  rigid  adherence  to  facts, 
was  sending  a  telegram  abroad,  informing 
the  credulous  world  that  the  "Emden"  had 
been  sunk.  How  many  sympathetic  people 
must  have  shuddered  as  they  read,  —  and 
so  did  we,  of  course ! 

During  the  following  night,  our  prize 
occasioned  us  some  further  trouble.    Nat- 


28  THE   "EMDEN" 

urally,  her  lights,  as  well  as  our  own,  had 
to  be  screened.  It  was  a  much  easier 
matter  to  give  orders  to  that  effect,  how- 
ever, than  to  see  to  it  that  they  were  carried 
out.  On  the  steamer  were  several  women 
passengers,  who,  from  the  outset,  were 
filled  with  mortal  terror  as  to  what  the 
barbarous  Germans  would  do  with  them. 
Most  of  them  were  fat  Russian  Jewesses. 
Every  few  minutes  they  would  turn  on  the 
electric  lights  in  their  cabins,  so  that 
finally  there  was  nothing  left  for  the 
officer  of  the  prize  crew  to  do  but  to  have 
the  electric  light  cable  in  the  engine  capped. 
Then  they  managed  to  find  lights  else- 
where, but  this  also  could  not,  of  course,  be 
tolerated. 

Upon  our  arrival  at  Tsingtao,  the  "Rje- 
san"  was  overhauled.  The  ship  was  an 
entirely  new  one,  and  so  had  not  been  in 
the  hands  of  the  Russians  long  enough  to 


OUR   FIRST   PRIZE  29 

give  them  opportunity  to  spoil  the  engine 
which  was  of  first-class  German  work- 
manship. Our  prize  could  still  run  at  a 
speed  of  seventeen  nautical  miles.  So  she 
was  equipped  with  guns,  was  manned  by 
a  German  crew,  and  continued  her  career 
as  the  German  auxiliary  cruiser  "Cor- 
moran." 

At  Tsingtao  preparations  for  war  were 
in  full  swing.  The  harbor  had  been  mined, 
the  forts  all  along  the  water  front  had  been 
manned,  and  vigorous  work  was  under 
way  in  the  harbor  itself.  In  the  moles  lay 
a  large  number  of  German  steamers.  Some 
of  them  were  being  fitted  up  as  auxiliary 
cruisers,  while  others  were  being  loaded 
with  coal  in  order  to  serve  our  squadron 
as  coal  tenders.  Our  Commander  found 
orders  awaiting  him  from  the  Admiral  of 
our  squadron,  Count  von  Spee,  who,  with 
the  armored  cruisers,  "  Scharnhorst "  and 


30  THE   "EMDEN" 

"Gneisenau,"  and  the  small  cruiser,  "Niirn- 
berg,"  was  in  the  South  Pacific,  steering 
northward.  The  "Emden's"  orders  were 
to  join  this  squadron  at  a  stated  point  of 
meeting  in  the  South  Pacific. 


II 

SOUTHWARD  BOUND 


Chapter  II 
SOUTHWARD  BOUND 

Aboard  our  ship  there  was  much  to  be 
done,  and  it  kept  us  busy  throughout  that 
day  and  the  following  night.  Coal  had 
to  be  taken  on  to  the  limit  of  our  capacity, 
and  as  many  supplies  as  possible  of  all 
kinds  stored  away  on  board.  The  ship's 
personnel  had  to  be  supplemented,  and 
other  final  preparations  for  war  made. 
At  sunrise  on  the  following  day  the  "Em- 
den"  left  Tsingtao  in  the  company  of  a 
large  number  of  German  ships,  all  bound 
for  the  south,  where  they  were  to  join  the 
Admiral's  squadron. 

In  the  harbor  unbounded  enthusiasm 
reigned.  Everyone  ashore  was  envious  of 
us.  If  the  war  was  to  be  with  France  and 
Russia    only,    Tsingtao    could    hardly    be 


34  THE   "EMDEN" 

expected  to  take  any  part  in  it.  For  the 
fortress  itself,  no  concern  whatever  was 
felt,  as,  from  the  ocean  side,  it  was  pro- 
tected by  good  and  sufficient  defences  that 
would  make  a  seizure  by  war  ships  im- 
possible. To  be  sure,  the  land  defences, 
in  so  far  as  they  were  such  at  all,  consisted 
of  very  small  and  modest  earthworks,  suf- 
ficient only  to  serve  as  protection  against 
an  assault  by  infantry.  But  an  attack  from 
the  land  side  was  not  to  be  expected,  as 
Tsingtao  was  entirely  surrounded  by  neu- 
tral Chinese  territory. 

With  fair  weather  and  a  smooth  sea  the 
"Emden"  slipped  out  of  the  harbor  moles. 
Our  band  played  "The  Watch  on  the 
Rhine."  The  entire  crew  was  on  deck, 
singing  as  the  band  played.  Cheers  rang 
from  ship  to  shore,  and  back  again.  Every- 
one was  confident  and  in  high  spirits. 
In  a  small  way  it  was  a  repetition  of  the 


SOUTHWARD  BOUND  35 

scenes  which,  on  a  grand  scale,  manifested 
the  nation's  devotion  to  country  in  Ger- 
many when  it  was  learned  that  war  was 
inevitable. 

Cautiously  the  "Emden"  made  her  way 
between  the  mines  which  barred  the  en- 
trance to  the  harbor.  The  sun  had  just 
risen.  Behind  us  lay  Tsingtao,  the  gem 
of  the  far  East,  brightened  by  the  golden- 
red  beams  of  the  young  day  —  a  picture 
of  peace.  Along  the  shore  could  be  seen 
the  long  line  of  neat  and  tastily  built 
houses,  the  whole  scene  dominated  by  the 
height  on  which  stood  the  signal  tower. 
In  the  background  rose  the  brown  hills, 
their  sombre  color  relieved  by  the  fresh 
green  of  the  young  trees  with  which  they 
had  been  planted.  From  out  the  delicately 
pink  mist  of  the  early  morning  rose  the 
church  steeple  bearing  the  cross  aloft. 
Farther  to  the  right  were  to  be  seen  the 


36  THE  "EMDEN 


trim,  well-kept  barracks,  the  government 
buildings,  and  the  bathing  beach,  —  the 
whole  picture  rimmed  by  the  white  line 
of  the  surf  that  broke  upon  the  rocky  shore 
with  the  incessant  rising  and  falling  of  the 
sea.  Glittering  diamonds  and  pearls  were 
strewn  with  a  lavish  hand  by  old  Neptune 
on  the  hem  of  earth's  fair  garment.  Na- 
ture's charm  and  German  industry  had 
combined  to  produce  a  picture  of  bewitch- 
ing beauty  in  the  midst  of  this  otherwise  for- 
bidding and  rugged  region.  As  we  gazed, 
there  was  not  one  of  us  who  was  not  con- 
scious of  a  strange  tugging  at  his  heart. 
But  duty  called  with  an  imperative  voice. 
Therefore,  farewell  to  the  fair  scene  we 
were  leaving  behind  us!  For  us,  it  was, 
"Onward,  to  the  South!" 

We  were  accompanied  by  the  "Marko- 
mannia,"  the  other  ships  taking  different 
courses.    The    "Markomannia"    remained 


SOUTHWARD  BOUND  37 

our  faithful  companion  for  a  number  of 
months. 

On  our  way  to  the  South  Pacific  we 
learned,  by  wireless,  of  the  rupture  in  the 
relations  between  Germany  and  England, 
and  of  the  latter's  declaration  of  war. 
It  was  not  unexpected  by  us,  and  if  we 
were  surprised  at  all,  it  was  that  this 
wirepuller  among  the  nations,  who  had  so 
often  plunged  the  others  into  misery,  was 
now  actually  going  to  risk  her  own  bones 
in  serious  conflict,  for  the  first  time  in  a 
hundred  years.  A  few  days  later  we 
learned  of  Japan's  remarkable  ultimatum, 
without  its  causing  us  any  special  anxiety. 
It  might  as  well  all  be  done  up  at  one  and 
the  same  time,  was  the  general  feeling 
among  us. 

When  the  "Emden"  left  Tsingtao,  Eng- 
land and  Japan  had  as  yet  not  declared 
war  against  Germany.    Nevertheless,  soon 


38  THE   "EMDEN' 


afterward,  we  read  in  some  English  news- 
papers that  our  "escape'*  from  Tsingtao  had 
been  made  possible  only  by  the  fact  that 
we  flew  the  English  flag  while  passing  a 
blockading  Japanese  cruiser,  and  that  we 
greeted  this  quasi  brother-in-arms  with 
three  cheers. 

We  wondered  whether  this  report  might 
have  had  its  origin  in  the  circumstance 
that  English  and  Japanese  cruisers  had 
already  been  ordered  to  Tsingtao,  before 
ever  a  declaration  of  war  had  been  made. 

In  any  case,  the  story  is  absurd.  For, 
aside  from  the  fact  that  under  no  condi- 
tion would  we  have  dishonored  our  brave 
ship  by  flying  the  English  flag,  we  would 
never  have  passed  the  Japanese  cruiser 
without  sending  her  a  torpedo  as  a  greeting. 

'Tis  strange  how  the  practice  of  sys- 
tematic and  continued  misrepresentation 
warps  the  judgment. 


SOUTHWARD  BOUND  39 

On  the  twelfth  of  August,  in  the  evening, 
we  had  reached  the  vicinity  of  the  island 
where  we  were  to  join  our  cruiser  squadron, 
and  soon  we  fell  in  with  some  of  the  ships 
that  were  serving  a$  outposts.  As  we 
approached  the  group  of  assembled  war 
ships,  we  saw  the  stanch  cruisers  "Scharn- 
horst"  and  "Gneisenau"  lying  in  the  midst 
of  them,  each  with  a  coal  tender  alongside, 
and  engaged  in  coaling.  To  the  left  lay 
the  slender  "Niirnberg,"  also  busy  with 
taking  on  coal.  Distributed  about  the 
bay,  many  larger  and  smaller  auxiliary 
ships  and  tenders  of  the  squadron  could 
be  seen.  The  '*Emden''  was  ordered  to 
an  anchorage  close  beside  the  flagship,  in  the 
right-hand  half  of  the  bay.  Rousing  cheers 
were  sent  from  deck  to  deck,  as  we  passed 
by  the  other  ships,  and  soon  our  anchor 
rattled  seaward,  and  to  the  bottom,  —  it  was 
to  be  the  last  time  for  many  a  long  day. 


40  THE  "EMDEN" 


Our  Commander  went  aboard  the  flag- 
ship to  report  to  the  Admiral  of  the  squad- 
ron, and  to  submit  to  him  the  proposal 
that  the  "Emden"  be  detached  from  the 
squadron,  and  be  sent  to  the  Indian  Ocean, 
to  raid  the  enemy's  commerce. 

On  the  following  day  the  squadron 
steered  an  easterly  course,  the  ships  keep- 
ing a  long  line,  one  behind  the  other,  with 
all  the  coal  tenders  bringing  up  the  rear. 
The  Admiral  had,  for  the  present,  reserved 
his  decision  with  regard  to  our  Command- 
er's proposition,  and  we  were  all  impatient 
to  learn  what  it  would  be.  At  last, 
toward  noon,  signal  flags  were  seen  running 
up  on  the  flagship.  They  read  "'Emden' 
detached.  Wish  you  good  luck!"  Sweep- 
ing a  wide  curve,  the  "Emden"  withdrew 
from  the  long  line  of  war  ships,  a  signal 
conveying  her  Commander's  thanks  for 
the  good  wishes  of  the  Admiral  fluttering 


SOUTHWARD  BOUND  41 

at  her  mast  head.  There  was  still  another 
signal  from  the  commanding  officer  of  the 
squadron,  ordering  the  "Markomannia" 
to  attend  the  "Emden."  Ere  long  we 
had  lost  sight  of  the  other  ships  of  the 
squadron,  which  now  were  steering  a  course 
contrary  to  our  own,  and  we  all  knew  full 
well  that  we  should  never  meet  again. 

It  was  a  long  journey  to  our  new  field 
of  action.  That  we  had  no  information 
with  regard  to  our  relations  with  Japan 
was  a  source  of  annoyance,  as  we  did  not 
know  whether  we  were  or  were  not  at  war 
with  that  country.  The  German  wireless 
apparatus  at  Station  Jap  had  already  been 
destroyed  by  the  English.  After  a  week's 
run  we  met  at  sea  the  German  steamer 
"Princess  Alice."  We  took  off  a  few 
reservists,  and  then  sent  her  on  to  Manila. 
A  little  later,  far  out  at  sea,  we  met  the 
little   German   gunboat  "Geier."    As  our 


42  THE   "EMDEN 


signal  connections  had  been  destroyed, 
she  had  no  news  of  the  war  to  give  us,  in 
so  far  as  England  and  Japan  were  con- 
cerned. We  remained  together  for  but  a 
short  time,  only  just  long  enough  to  ex- 
change what  news  we  each  had.  Then 
the  "Geier"  passed  on  eastward,  on  her 
way  to  join  the  squadron,  while  we  con- 
tinued in  the  direction  of  our  future  hunting 
ground. 

These  days  were  strenuous  ones  for  our 
men,  as  the  war  watch  was  continued 
without  intermission,  in  order  that  the 
ship  might  be  ready  at  a  moment's  notice 
for  any  emergency.  There  was  no  oppor- 
tunity to  give  the  crew  even  a  short  season 
of  rest.  For  us,  there  was  not  one  harbor 
of  refuge  where  we  might  lie  free  from 
danger. 

Very  regretfully  we  allowed  a  Japanese 
steamer,  that  we  met  on  the  way,  to  pro- 


SOUTHWARD  BOUND  43 

ceed  undisturbed,  as  we  did  not  know,  at 
the  time,  whether  or  not  we  were  at  war 
with  Japan.  In  passing,  the  Jap  greeted 
us  most  obsequiously,  dipping  her  flag 
especially  low,  in  the  supposition,  no  doubt, 
that  we  were  an  Englishman.  We  left 
her  salute  unanswered. 

To  reach  the  open  sea,  our  course  now 
led  us  through  a  number  of  narrow  water 
ways.  These  straits  swarmed  with  fishing 
boats  and  other  small  sea  craft.  The 
nights  were  bright  with  moonlight,  which 
made  it  possible  to  recognize  the  "Emden" 
at  a  considerable  distance.  To  meet  so 
many  boats  was  a  source  of  anxiety  to  our 
Commander,  who  expressed  himself  as 
apprehensive  that  our  presence  in  these 
waters,  and  our  probable  course  also,  would 
be  noised  about  by  some  of  these  vessels. 
All  English  ships  have  either  two  or  four 
funnels,  whereas  the  "  Emden  "  had  three. 


44  THE   "EMDEN" 

The  happy  thought  came  to  me  that  much 
might  be  gained  if  the  "Emden'*  were 
provided  with  a  fourth  funnel.  So  I  quickly 
ordered  a  number  of  deck-runners  to  be 
fetched  out.  Deck-runners  are  strips  of 
heavy  sail-cloth  about  two  meters  in  width, 
and,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  are 
used  to  protect  the  linoleum  deck.  Up 
above,  a  wooden  post  was  fastened  at  the 
proper  place  in  front  of  our  forward  funnel, 
and  then  our  counterfeit  funnel  was  placed 
in  position  around  it.  Viewed  from  the 
side,  it  made  an  excellent  impression. 
From  the  front,  it  must  be  admitted,  its 
appearance  left  much  to  be  desired.  It 
lacked  the  well-rounded  proportions  of  its 
fellows,  for  it  was  only  a  few  millimeters  in 
diameter.  However,  in  the  hurry  to  have 
it  ready  for  use  in  the  coming  night,  nothing 
better  could  be  put  together. 

I    suggested    to   our   Commander   that. 


SOUTHWARD  BOUND  45 

given  more  time,  I  could  produce  a  much 
better  looking  fourth  funnel,  and  he  ap- 
proved of  the  undertaking.  So,  on  the 
following  morning,  we  set  to  work.  Out 
of  wooden  laths  and  sail-cloth  we  soon  had 
constructed  a  funnel  of  most  elegant  ap- 
pearance, and,  when  it  had  been  placed  in 
position,  the  "Emden"  was  the  exact 
counterpart  of  the  British  cruiser  "Yar- 
mouth." It  was  with  this  precise  object 
in  view  that  we  had  given  the  funnel  an 
oval  shape,  as  I  was  aware  that  the  "Yar- 
mouth" carried  such  an  one.  Our  tender, 
the  "  Markomannia, "  was  then  sent  out  to 
the  one  side  of  us,  and,  with  signals,  she 
gave  us  directions  as  to  how  we  could 
improve  the  position  of  our  fourth  funnel. 
We  then  placed  marks  on  the  light  steel 
ropes  which  served  to  hoist  the  funnel  into 
position,  so  that,  at  any  time  of  the  day  op 
night,    and    at    a    moment's    notice,    our 


46  THE   "EMDEN" 

counterfeit    funnel    could    be    neatly    and 
properly  placed. 

In  this  way,  by  the  end  of  the  first  week 
in  September,  we  had  got  as  far  as  the 
Bay  of  Bengal.  For  a  period  of  about 
five  days  an  English  man-of-war,  most 
likely  the  "Minotaur,"  kept  a  course  close 
beside  our  own,  which  we  learned  from  the 
frequent  wireless  messages  that  we  caught 
up.  Gradually,  her  messages  became  less 
distinct,  and  then  ceased  altogether.  At 
no  time  had  she  come  within  sight  of  us. 


Ill 

ON  THE  CHASE 


Chapter  III 
ON  THE  CHASE 

It  was  not  until  the  night  of  September 
tenth  that  our  work  began  in  real  earnest. 
A  steamer  came  in  sight,  and  we  approached 
her  very  cautiously,  so  as  to  give  her  a 
closer  inspection.  Quietly,  and  with  lights 
screened,  we  crept  up  behind  our  intended 
victim.  Our  Commander  ordered  an  ap- 
proach to  within  one  hundred  meters  of 
the  steamer,  which  was  peacefully  and 
unsuspectingly  proceeding  on  her  course, 
and,  after  the  manner  of  merchantmen, 
was  paying  little  heed  to  anything  except 
what  was  ahead  of  her  and  showing  lights. 
Suddenly,  through  the  stillness  of  the 
perfectly  calm  night,  rang  out  our  challenge 
through  the  speaking  trumpet: 


50  THE   "EMDEN" 

"Stop  at  once!  Do  not  use  your  wire- 
less!   We  are  sending  a  boat!" 

The  steamer  did  not  seem  to  realize 
what  was  meant  by  this  order.  Perhaps 
she  did  not  expect,  here  in  the  heart  of 
Indian  waters,  to  run  across  an  enemy's 
man-of-war.  Or  she  may  have  thought 
it  the  voice  of  a  sea  god,  and  therefore  no 
concern  of  hers.  At  any  rate,  she  con- 
tinued on  her  way  undeterred.  So,  to 
explain  the  situation,  we  sent  a  blank 
shot  whizzing  past  her.  This  made  an 
impression,  and,  pell  mell,  her  engines 
were  reversed  —  we  truly  regretted  the 
start  we  had  given  her  dozing  engineers  — 
and  with  her  siren  she  howled  out  her 
willingness  to  obey  our  order. 

One  of  our  cutters,  with  a  prize  crew  in 
it,  glided  swiftly  to  water,  and  thence  to 
the  steamer,  of  which  we  thus  took  posses- 
sion.   An  unpleasant  surprise  was  now  in 


ON  THE   CHASE  51 

store  for  us,  for  soon  there  came  flashing 
back  to  us  a  signal  given  by  one  of  the 
men  of  our  prize  crew:  "This  is  the  Greek 
steamer,  'Pontoporros.'" 

Our  first  steamer,  and  a  neutral!  Now 
it  would  be  but  a  few  days  before  the 
entire  coast  would  know  that  a  German 
war  ship  was  abroad  in  the  Indian  Ocean. 
The  very  best  of  prizes  might  escape  us 
on  account  of  it.  But,  as  good  fortune 
would  have  it,  our  classic  captive  was 
loaded  with  contraband.  She  was  carrying 
coal  to  British  ports.  She  was  therefore 
most  welcome,  to  supplement  the  "Marko- 
mannia,"  whose  coal  bunkers  were  already 
half  empty,  and  we  gladly  added  her  to 
our  squadron,  which  now  consisted  of 
three  ships.  They  were  not  long  to  re- 
main the  only  ones,  however. 

The  "  Pontoporros "  was  loaded  with 
coal  from  India,  the  very  dirtiest  coal  in 


52  THE  "EMDEN" 


the  world.  I  had  hoped,  as  our  store  of 
supplies  diminished,  to  be  able  to  replenish 
it  from  the  cargoes  of  our  prizes  as  we 
captured  them.  It  was  now  six  weeks 
since  the  "Emden"  had  put  in  at  a  port, 
and  in  all  that  time  we  had,  of  course,  not 
had  an  opportunity  to  take  on  supplies  of 
any  kind.  On  board  ship  the  first  officer 
is,  in  a  way,  the  housekeeper,  for  it  is  his 
duty  to  attend  to  all  the  details  of  fitting 
out  the  ship  with  supplies  of  every  descrip- 
tion. Before  running  out  from  Tsingtao, 
I  had,  in  so  far  as  possible,  packed  the  ship 
with  everything  that  I  had  thought  neces- 
sary or  useful.  But  now,  during  the  last 
few  days,  it  had  developed  that  our  supply 
of  soap  was  getting  alarmingly  low.  The 
usually  very  generous  quantity  of  soap 
allowed  each  man  had  therefore  shrunk 
to  proportions  that  approached  the  vanish- 
ing point,  and  it  looked  as  though   in  a 


ON  THE  CHASE  S3 

couple  of  weeks  washing  would  be  classed 
among  the  luxuries  of  life  aboard  the 
"Emden." 

I  had  therefore,  in  jest,  entreated  our 
Commander  to  capture,  as  our  first  prize, 
a  ship  loaded  with  soap,  instead  of  which 
we  now  got  this  cargo  of  dirty  Indian  coal. 
My  disappointment  was  so  great  that  I 
could  not  refrain  from  reproachfully  calling 
our  Commander's  attention  to  it,  and, 
with  a  laugh,  he  promised  to  do  his  best 
toward  providing  us  with  the  much  needed 
soap.     And  he  kept  his  word. 

On  the  morning  of  the  eleventh  of  Sep- 
tember, only  a  few  hours  after  we  had 
made  the  first  addition  to  our  squadron, 
there  appeared,  forward,  a  large  steamer, 
which,  in  the  supposition  that  we  were  an 
English  man-of-war,  manifested  her  delight 
at  meeting  us  by  promptly  running  up  a 
large  English  flag  while  still  a  long  way  off. 


54  THE   "EMDEN" 

We  could  not  help  wondering  what  sort  of 
expression  her  captain's  face  wore  when 
we  ran  up  the  German  colors,  and  politely- 
requested  him  to  remain  with  us  for  a 
while. 

The  steamer  hailed  from  Calcutta,  had 
been  requisitioned  to  serve  as  an  English 
transport  for  carrying  troops  from  Colombo 
to  France,  and  was  fitted  out  with  an 
abundance  of  excellent  supplies.  A  very- 
pleasing  surprise  awaited  us,  and  one  for 
which  we  were  indebted  to  the  English 
native  love  of  cleanliness,  a  virtue  which 
no  one  will  be  inclined  to  dispute.  In 
this  case  it  had  manifested  itself  in  storing 
away  so  much  soap  in  the  ship,  that  for 
us,  with  our  small  crew,  it  was  sufficient 
to  supply  our  needs  for  at  least  a  year, 
even  though  we  should  be  spendthrift  in 
the  use  of  this  indispensable  requisite  of 
modern  civilization. 


ON  THE   CHASE  55 

We  also  found  aboard  the  ship  a  very 
handsome  race  horse.  By  a  shot  through 
the  head,  this  noble  creature  was  spared 
the  agony  of  death  by  drowning.  But  our 
sympathy  was  hardly  sufficient  to  ex- 
tend to  all  the  many  mounts  for  artillery, 
which  occupied  as  many  neatly  numbered 
stalls  that  had  been  built  into  the  ship. 
They  had  to  be  left  to  become  the  prey 
of  sharks  a  half  hour  later.  The  ship's 
crew  was  sent  aboard  our  "junkman." 
The  ship  that  did  "junkman's"  duty  for 
us  was  either  a  recently  captured  vessel 
that  was  travelling  with  nothing  but  ballast 
in  her  hold,  and  consequently  was  of  little 
value,  or  else  one  that  was  carrying  neutral 
cargo,  the  sinking  of  which  would  have 
entailed  unnecessary  expense,  as,  when 
the  war  is  over,  an  indemnity  has  to  be 
paid  for  all  neutral  cargo  destroyed.  Our 
"junkman"  always  followed  the  "Emden," 


56  THE  "EMDEN" 

until  there  were  as  many  people  gathered 
aboard  her  as  she  could  carry.  When 
full,  she  was  discharged,  to  steam  away 
to  the  nearest  port.  At  this  time  the 
"Pontoporros"  was  doing  "junkman's" 
service. 

During  the  next  few  days  our  business 
flourished.  It  was  carried  on  in  this  way: 
As  soon  as  a  steamer  came  in  sight,  she 
was  stopped,  and  one  of  our  officers,  accom- 
panied by  ten  men,  was  sent  aboard  her. 
It  was  their  duty  to  get  the  steamer  ready 
to  be  sunk,  and  to  arrange  for  the  safe 
transfer  of  the  passengers  and  crew.  As 
a  rule,  while  we  were  still  occupied  with 
this,  the  mast  head  of  the  next  ship  would 
appear  above  the  horizon.  There  was  no 
need  of  giving  chase.  When  the  next 
steamer  had  come  near  enough  to  us,  the 
**Emden"  steamed  off  to  meet  her,  and 
sent  her  a  friendly  signal  by  which  she  was 


ON  THE  CHASE  57 

induced  to  join  our  other  previously  cap- 
tured ships.  Again  an  officer  and  men 
were  sent  off,  boarded  her,  got  her  ready- 
to  be  sunk,  and  attended  to  the  transfer  of 
all  hands  aboard  her,  etc.,  and,  by  the 
time  this  was  accomplished,  the  mast 
head  of  the  third  ship  had  usually  come 
in  sight.  Again  the  "Emden"  went  to 
meet  her,  and  so  the  game  went  on. 

There  were  times  when  in  this  way  we 
had  gathered  about  us  from  five  to  six 
steamers.  Of  these,  the  first  arrival  would 
be  showing  only  the  funnel  above  water; 
the  next  was  probably  up  to  the  deck 
under  water;  the  condition  of  the  third 
one  still  appeared  to  be  normal,  although 
a  slight  swaying  from  side  to  side  showed 
that  she,  too,  was  getting  full.  The  pas- 
sengers of  these  captured  ships  made 
surprising  acquaintances  on  board  our 
"junkmen." 


58  THE   "EMDEN 


In  this  way  we  cleaned  up  the  whole 
region  from  Ceylon  to  Calcutta.  In  addi- 
tion to  our  old  companion,  the  "Marko- 
mannia/'  we  were  now  accompanied  by 
the  Greek  collier  "  Pontoporros,"  which, 
in  the  meanwhile,  had  relinquished  the 
role  of  "junkman"  to  the  "Cabigna." 
The  latter  was  an  English  steamer  carrying 
an  American  cargo,  the  destruction  of 
which  would  have  resulted  in  nothing  but 
unnecessary  charges. 

The  "Cabigna"  continued  with  us  for 
several  days,  although  she,  the  "Marko- 
mannia,"  and  the  "  Pontoporros "  were  not 
the  only  companions  of  the  "Emden" 
during  that  night.  We  had  captured  more 
prizes,  whose  destruction,  however,  was 
deferred  to  the  following  day  in  considera- 
tion of  the  passengers,  because  of  the 
darkness,  and  the  high  seas  running.  All 
told,   we   had   six   attendants   that   night. 


ON  THE  CHASE  59 

Three  of  these  disappeared  in  the  sea  on 
the  coming  morning,  and  the  "Cabigna" 
was  discharged  to  land  her  passengers. 

Aboard  the  "Cabigna"  were  the  wife 
and  little  child  of  the  captain.  The  posi- 
tion at  sea,  where  the  other  steamers  had 
been  sent  to  the  bottom,  was  so  far  distant 
from  the  nearest  shore  that  it  would  have 
been  quite  impossible  for  any  boats  to 
have  reached  land.  Before  the  captain  of 
the  "Cabigna"  had  been  told  that  he  would 
be  allowed  to  proceed,  and  in  the  assump- 
tion that  his  ship  also  was  to  be  sunk,  he 
begged  that  he  might  be  allowed  to  take  a 
revolver  with  him  for  the  protection  of 
his  wife  and  child.  This  is  a  typical  case 
to  illustrate  the  absurd  ideas  entertained 
by  the  British  public  as  a  result  of  the 
persistent  slander  of  the  Germans  in  which 
the  English  newspapers  have  indulged. 
According   to   the    representations    of   the 


6o  THE   "EMDEN" 


English  press  it  would  have  been  all  of  a 
piece  with  German  custom  if  we  had  set 
these  women  and  children  out  in  open 
boats,  hundreds  of  miles  out  at  sea,  to 
leave  them  there  to  starve. 

When  the  captain  was  informed  that  it 
was  not  our  purpose  to  destroy  his  ship, 
he  was  overcome  with  joy.  I,  myself, 
was  aboard  his  ship  for  several  hours,  and 
he  could  not  find  words  sufficient  to  express 
his  gratitude,  begging  me  to  convey  his 
thanks  to  our  Commander,  and  finally 
handing  me  a  letter  to  deliver  to  him. 
In  it  he  thanked  us  once  more  for  the 
"humane"  treatment  which  he  and  his 
family  had  received  at  our  hands,  saying 
that  the  officers  and  men  of  the  prize  crew 
placed  in  command  of  his  ship  had  all 
conducted  themselves  like  gentlemen,  that 
he  could  not  find  sufficient  words  of  praise 
for  the  deportment  of  the  Germans,  that 


ON  THE  CHASE  6i 

he  would  never  forget  the  consideration 
shown  him  by  our  Commander,  who,  he 
said,  had  treated  him  with  as  much  kindU- 
ness  and  courtesy  as  it  is  possible  for  one 
seaman  to  extend  to  another  in  an  emer- 
gency, even  in  time  of  peace,  and  he  further 
assured  us  that  he  would  do  all  in  his  power 
to  have  the  truth  made  public  through  the 
English  newspapers. 

I  had  a  long  conversation  with  the 
captain's  wife,  also,  and  she  expressed 
sentiments  much  like  those  contained  in 
her  husband's  letter  to  our  Commander. 
When  she  discovered,  from  something  I 
said,  that  my  oil-skins  were  going  to  pieces, 
she  pressed  me  to  accept  her  husband's. 
Besides  this,  upon  learning  that  our  supply 
of  smoking  tobacco  was  getting  low,  she 
urged  us  to  take  as  many  cigarettes  and  as 
much  smoking  tobacco  with  us  as  we  could 
carry.     These,  she  declared,  were  but  tri- 


62  THE   "EMDEN" 

fling  gifts  in  comparison  with  the  gratitude 
she  felt. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  we 
took  with  us  neither  the  tobacco  nor  the 
oil-skins. 

At  the  time  that  the  "Cabigna"  was 
discharged,  her  deck  was  full  of  passengers, 
all  people  from  the  steamers  we  had  cap- 
tured. At  our  order,  "You  may  pro- 
ceed!'' three  cheers  —  "Hurrah!  Hurrah! 
Hurrah!"  —  rang  back  to  us,  one  for  the 
Commander,  one  for  the  officers,  and  one 
for  the  crew  of  H.  M.  S.  "Emden,"  in 
which  every  person  on  the  crowded  deck 
joined.  How  many  souls  the  "Cabigna" 
carried  can  best  be  estimated  from  the 
description  of  her  entrance  into  Calcutta, 
as  given  in  an  English  newspaper,  which, 
some  time  later,  fell  into  our  hands.  It 
stated  that  no  one  would  have  supposed 
the    "Cabigna"    to    be    a    merchantman. 


ON  THE  CHASE  63 

but  rather  would  have  taken  her  to  be  a 
training  ship,  so  crowded  was  her  deck. 
There  were,  at  the  time,  about  four  hundred 
persons  aboard  the  ship. 

In  the  further  progress  of  our  activities 
we  never  failed  to  get  three  cheers  from  our 
discharged  "junkmen,''  as  they  departed 
with  their  collection  of  passengers  from 
captured  steamers.  Hence  it  would  appear 
that  it  is  customary  with  Englishmen  to 
cheer  barbarians  who  murder  little  children 
and  wantonly  slay  men  and  women. 

This  seems  a  fitting  place  to  speak  about 
the  attitude  taken  by  the  Englishmen  when 
we  captured  their  ships.  Most  of  them 
behaved  very  sensibly.  After  they  had 
recovered  from  the  first  shock  of  surprise, 
they  usually  passed  into  the  stage  of  un- 
restrained indignation  at  their  government, 
at  which  they  swore  roundly.  With  but 
one    exception,    they    never    offered    any 


64  THE   "EMDEN' 


resistance  to  the  sinking  of  their  ships. 
We  always  allowed  them  time  enough  to 
collect  and  take  with  them  their  personal 
possessions.  They  usually  devoted  most 
of  this  time  to  making  certain  that  their 
precious  supply  of  whiskey  was  not  wasted 
on  the  fishes.  I  can  say  with  truth  that 
seldom  did  we  send  off  a  wholly  sober  lot 
of  passengers  on  any  one  of  our  "junkmen." 
In  general,  they  had  an  eye  open  to  "  busi- 
ness," and  made  every  reasonable  effort  to 
make  certain  that  the  advantages  of  Ger- 
man commerce  raiding  should  be  extended 
to  the  ships  of  their  competitors  among  the 
steamship  lines.  For  instance,  upon  leav- 
ing his  ship,  the  captain  of  an  English 
steamer  would  say  something  like  this: 
"Tell  me,  have  you  run  across  the  steamer 
'X'?"  to  which  we  would  reply,  "No." 
"What,"  the  captain  would  then  exclaim, 
"you  haven't  seen  her!    Why,  she  steers 


ON  THE  CHASE  65 

a  course  only  seven  miles  to  the  south, 
and  is  only  two  hours  behind  me!" 

In  this  way  we  usually  knew  the  name 
of  the  next  ship  to  appear,  long  before  her 
mast  head  had  come  in  sight  above  the 
horizon,  and,  moreover,  it  gave  us  oppor- 
tunity to  avoid  annoying  meetings  with 
neutrals. 

One  captain  was  especially  amusing. 
His  was  the  unenviable  duty  of  taking  a 
bucket-dredger  from  England  to  Australia. 
No  seafaring  man  can  help  sympathizing 
with  the  unfortunate  who  has  to  conduct 
one  of  these  rolling  tubs,  with  a  speed  of 
not  more  than  four  nautical  miles  at  best, 
all  the  way  from  Europe  down  to  Australia. 
And  so,  from  a  purely  humane  standpoint, 
we  could  fully  appreciate  this  English 
captain's  joy  at  being  captured.  Rarely 
have  I  seen  anyone  jump  so  high  for  joy. 
He  must  have  been  a  past  master  in  the 


66  THE   "EMDEN" 

art  of  jumping  to  be  able  to  keep  his  feet 
in  spite  of  the  terrible  rolling  of  his  ship. 
Tears  of  gratitude  coursed  down  his 
weathered  cheeks  as  he  exclaimed,  "Thank 
God,  that  the  old  tub  is  gone!  The 
five  hundred  pounds  I  was  to  have  for 
taking  her  to  Australia  were  paid  me  in 
advance." 

A  seafaring  man  is  always  strangely- 
moved  by  the  sight  of  a  sinking  ship. 
We,  who  heretofore  had  always  done  every- 
thing within  our  power  to  help  any  ship  in 
distress,  were  no  exception,  and  never 
failed  to  experience  a  peculiar  sensation 
when  our  duty  compelled  us  to  destroy 
the  ships,  and  we  saw  them  sink.  It  was 
usually  accomplished  in  this  way: 

One  of  our  men  was  sent  down  into  the 
engine  room  of  the  captured  vessel  to 
unscrew  the  cap  to  one  of  the  large  pipes 
that    open    outward.     Hereupon    the    sea 


ON  THE   CHASE  67 

would  instantly  rush  into  the  engine  room 
in  so  powerful  a  stream  that  it  forced  its 
way  in,  in  a  column  of  water  twice  a  man's 
height,  and  with  a  circumference  of  a  man's 
girth.  The  water-tight  door  leading  into 
the  boiler  room  was  always  opened  and 
fastened  back,  so  that  it  had  to  remain  so. 
In  this  way  we  made  certain  that  two  large 
compartments  of  the  ship  would  fill  with 
water.  In  addition  to  these  two,  we  opened 
two  more  to  the  sea,  by  means  of  blasts, 
which  were  always  set  off  at  night,  or  else 
by  two  well  placed  shots.  For  a  while 
the  ship  would  then  lunge  from  side  to 
side,  as  though  uncertain  as  to  what  was 
expected  of  her  under  these  unusual  cir- 
cumstances. Then  she  settled  deeper  and 
deeper  into  the  water,  until  the  sea  washed 
the  railing.  The  waves  swept  greedily 
over  the  deck  of  the  vessel  doomed  to 
destruction.     Unseen  hands  seemed  to  be 


68  THE  "EMDEN" 

pulling  and  hauling  to  draw  their  victim 
more  quickly  down  into  the  deep.  A 
shiver  ran  through  the  whole  structure,  as 
though  the  ship  were  shaking  with  fear, 
or  as  if  she  were  making  one  last,  desperate 
effort  to  escape  from  her  impending  fate. 
Then  there  was  evident  submission  to  the 
inevitable,  and  the  final  collapse.  The 
bow  dipped  into  the  water,  the  masts  came 
flat  upon  it,  and  the  screws  and  rudder 
rose  high  in  air.  From  the  funnels  came 
a  last  puff  of  smoke  and  escaping  steam. 
For  a  moment  the  ship  stood  on  end, 
upright  in  the  water,  and  then  shot  like 
an  arrow  into  the  deep.  The  last  resisting 
hatches  and  bulkheads  of  the  stern  were 
burst  asunder  by  the  force  of  the  com- 
pressed air,  which,  where  it  escaped  through 
the  ventilators  and  side  windows,  forced 
the  water  out  with  it  in  jets  like  fountains, 
that   rose  several   meters   high,   and  were 


ON  THE  CHASE  69 

scattered  in  spray  by  the  pressure  of  the 
escaping  air.  A  swirl  of  rushing  waters 
where  the  ship  had  disappeared;  then  the 
sea  closed  over  her,  and  she  was  seen  no 
more.  A  moment  later,  as  a  last  token 
from  the  vanished  ship,  a  few  loose  spars 
and  beams,  a  boat  or  two,  and  other  like 
wreckage  rose  to  the  surface.  Long  heavy 
timbers  shot  upright  out  of  the  water,  like 
arrows  from  a  bow,  jumping  to  a  height  of 
several  meters  above  the  surface  of  the 
sea.  When  all  was  over,  a  large  oil  spot 
marked  the  place  where  the  ship  had 
disappeared,  and  a  crushed  boat,  a  few 
life-preservers,  timbers,  and  the  like  floated 
about.  Then  the  "Emden"  steered  toward 
the  next  mast  head  to  come  in  sight. 

The  Englishmen  were  always  very  grate- 
ful because  we  allowed  them  every  oppor- 
tunity to  secure  and  take  with  them  all 
their  personal  possessions.     For  this  they 


70  THE  "EMDEN" 

gave  us  full  credit  in  their  newspapers. 
It  is  probably  not  too  much  to  say  that 
toward  the  close  of  the  year  19 14  the 
"Emden"  was  the  most  popular  ship  in 
East  Indian  waters.  Generally  speaking, 
the  English  showed  little  understanding  of 
the  war.  It  is  not  with  them,  as  it  is  with 
us,  a  people's  war,  and  to  a  great  extent 
they  look  upon  it  with  indifference.  This 
makes  it  possible  for  them  to  view  the 
achievements  of  their  friends,  and  their 
foes  as  well,  from  the  sporting  side  of  the 
situation,  and  so  accounts,  in  part  at  least, 
for  the  rather  remarkable  circumstance 
that  our  Commander  and  his  ship  received 
praise  and  acclamation  from  all  the  news- 
papers of  India.  The  "Gentleman  Cap- 
tain" was  the  name  by  which  he  was 
known,  and  in  the  newspapers  it  was  said 
that  he  "played  the  game"  and  was 
"playing  it  well." 


ON  THE  CHASE  71 

We  always  tried  to  be  very  considerate 
of  all  passengers  who  were  at  all  civil  — 
and  there  were  but  few  who  were  not  so  — 
and  rendered  them  every  service  possible, 
frequently  at  the  cost  of  much  valuable 
time.  I  am  reminded  of  one  instance  in 
particular  when,  just  before  a  steamer 
was  to  be  destroyed,  a  young  Englishman 
came  to  me,  begging  me  to  save  for  him 
his  only  possession  in  the  world,  and  one 
to  which  he  was  wholly  devoted,  —  a 
motor  wheel.  It  was  no  easy  matter  to 
find  the  wheel  among  all  the  many  articles 
that  were  packed  in  the  hold  of  the  ship, 
but  we  got  it  out,  and,  together  with  its 
happy  owner,  it  was  safely  carried  in  the 
steam  launch,  which  made  an  extra  trip 
for  the  purpose,  over  to  the  "junkman," 
where  both  wheel  and  owner  were  comfort- 
ably stowed  away. 

But  there  was  another  Englishman  who 


72  THE  "EMDEN" 

did  not  fare  as  well  at  our  hands.  He  was 
a  particularly  aristocratic  gentleman,  the 
"traffic  master"  at  Calcutta,  and  was  on 
his  way  to  Colombo  with  a  large  steamer 
which  he  was  intending  to  turn  over  to 
the  government  for  use  as  a  transport  ship 
for  troops.  He  was  not  permitted  to  carry 
out  his  intention,  and  over  this  he  was  very 
wroth.  It  has  been  my  experience  that 
when  it  comes  to  a  matter  of  business,  all 
Englishmen,  even  those  of  a  most  amiable 
temper,  are  very  easily  irritated.  While 
the  ship  was  being  made  ready  to  be  sent 
to  the  bottom,  this  gentleman  was  engaged 
in  packing  his  numerous  and  large  patent 
leather  trunks,  which  he  piled  in  a  great 
heap  up  on  deck.  Then,  with  a  high  and 
mighty  air,  as  befitting  one  of  the  British 
rulers  of  the  sea,  he  paced  the  bridge,  his 
pipe  in  the  corner  of  his  mouth,  and  his 
hands  in  the  pockets  of  his  large  checked 


ON  THE  CHASE  73 

trousers.  He  cast  scornful  glances  down 
at  us  "Germans."  To  his  pile  of  trunks 
he  paid  no  further  attention,  seemingly 
taking  it  for  granted  that,  when  the  proper 
moment  arrived,  we  would  wait  upon  him 
to  get  orders  as  to  what  was  to  be  done 
with  them. 

Finally  all  hands  had  left  the  ship, 
taking  with  them  their  various  belongings, 
and  he  was  the  only  person  still  on  board. 
We  were  ready  to  sink  the  ship,  but  the 
traffic  master,  in  "splendid  isolation"  and 
big  checked  trousers,  with  his  pipe  in  his 
mouth,  was  still  pacing  the  ship's  bridge. 
He  was  informed  that  it  was  high  time  for 
him  to  leave  the  ship.  His  only  reply 
was  a  mute  gesture,  —  for  which  he  was 
obliged  to  take  his  hand  out  of  his  pocket,  — 
a  jerk  of  his  thumb  in  the  direction  of  his 
pile  of  trunks  that,  in  solitary  grandeur, 
was  now  the  sole  remaining  ornament  of 


74  THE   "EMDEN 


the  deck.  He  evidently  assumed  that  his 
royal  gesture  would  be  all-sufficient  to 
remind  us  of  our  duty,  and  that  we  would 
instantly  stand  ready  to  obey  the  orders 
of  the  "traffic  master  of  Calcutta"  with 
regard  to  his  trunks. 

Our  men  misunderstood  him,  however, 
and  calmly  assured  him  that  he  need  have 
no  anxiety  for  his  trunks,  for,  judging 
from  recent  experiences,  they  would  sink 
fast  enough  without  any  assistance  from 
them,  and  that  there  was  reason  to  believe 
that  the  same  fate  would  overtake  him,  if 
he  did  not  leave  the  ship  at  once.  The 
last  boat  was  about  to  put  off. 

Hereupon  the  traffic  master  came  down, 
first  of  all  from  the  height  of  his  English 
superiority,  and  then  from  the  height  of 
the  ship's  bridge.  With  his  own  hands 
he  saved  at  least  the  smallest  one  of  his 
collection  of  trunks,  and,  perspiring  with 


ON  THE  CHASE  75 

the  exertion,  carried  it  off  with  him  as  he 
left  the  ship.  Our  men  followed  him  with 
their  hands  in  their  trousers'  pockets, 
and  a  cigarette  in  the  corner  of  their 
mouths. 

The  store  of  provisions  with  which  we 
started  out  had,  of  course,  long  since  come 
to  an  end.  But,  thanks  to  the  kind  fore- 
thought of  the  English,  the  steamers  we 
captured  were  always  so  well  stocked  with 
canned  goods,  put  up  by  the  best  of  English 
firms,  that  it  was  fortunate  that  our  men 
were  blessed  with  good  appetites,  else  it 
would  have  been  difficult  for  them,  in  this 
respect,  to  have  carried  out  one  of  the 
first  rules  of  warfare,  viz.  that  under  all 
circumstances  the  enemy's  stores  must  be 
destroyed.  In  this  connection  we  de- 
monstrated, by  sufficient  and  agreeable 
experiment,  that  conserves  and  other  like 
delicacies   are   excellent    food    for    sailors. 


76  THE  "EMDEN" 


and  need  not  be  omitted  from  their  rations 
on  account  of  the  liquor  in  which  they  are 
put  up. 

In  the  vicinity  of  Calcutta  we  had  an 
undesired  meeting  with  a  steamer  by  the 
name  of  "Loredano."  It  was  not  at  all 
necessary  for  her  to  run  up  her  flag  to 
establish  her  nationality,  for  the  dirt,  that 
was  everywhere  in  evidence,  proclaimed 
her  from  afar  to  be  an  Italian.  We  were 
obliged  to  allow  this  neutral  ship  to  proceed 
on  her  way,  since  a  close  inspection  failed 
to  reveal  anything  of  the  nature  of  contra- 
band. It  happened  that  she  arrived  on 
the  scene  of  action  just  at  a  time  when  a 
collection  of  ships  was  about  to  start  on 
a  course  for  the  bottom  of  the  sea.  When 
the  last  of  these  ill-fated  steamers  had 
disappeared,  and  the  "Emden"  was  leav- 
ing for  elsewhere,  we  could  see,  on  look- 
ing back,  that   the   Italians  were  eagerly 


ON  THE  CHASE  77 

engaged  in  fishing  up  some  floating  bales 
of  tea,  a  part  of  a  large  cargo  of  tea  that 
one  of  the  steamers  we  had  just  sunk  was 
carrying.  We  wondered  whether  our 
Italian  friends  hoped  to  find  their  contents 
to  be  macaroni.  We  were  not  at  all  dis- 
posed to  grudge  them  the  fruits  of  their 
fishing,  but  were  very  far  from  approving 
their  later  conduct,  for  on  the  following 
day  this  "neutral"  steamer  undertook  to 
send  out  wireless  messages  announcing 
to  all  shipping  in  the  surrounding  waters 
that  the  "Emden"  was  near.  This  was 
a  violation  of  international  law,  which 
prohibits  neutrals  from  participating  in 
or  interfering  with  any  act  of  war. 

When  we  had  garnered  all  that  the  Bay 
of  Bengal  here  had  to  offer  us,  a  circum- 
stance which  we  learned  from  the  fact 
that  day  after  day  not  a  ship  came  in 
sight,  we  decided  to  seek  another  field  of 


78  THE   "EMDEN  = 


action,  and  betook  ourselves  to  the  other 
side  of  the  Bay,  toward  Rangoon.  Here 
our  first  misfortune  awaited  us,  —  there 
were  no  ships  abroad.  That  all  shipping 
was  being  held  in  the  harbors  on  our  account 
was  the  explanation,  but  this  we  did  not 
know  until  later,  when  we  read  it  in  the 
newspapers. 

Nevertheless  there  was  one  happy  result 
to  be  placed  to  the  credit  of  our  reputation* 
in  that  we  found  it  an  easy  matter  to 
persuade  a  Norwegian  steamer  temporarily 
to  assume  the  role  of  "junkman''  for  us, 
and  we  could  thus  rid  ourselves  of  the  last 
of  our  undesired  guests. 

Because  of  our  detour  to  Rangoon,  we 
had  been  seen  by  no  one  for  the  whole  of 
one  week.  In  wise  forethought  for  the 
welfare  of  their  subjects,  the  discreet  British 
government  authorities  in  India  utilized 
this  interim  to  gladden  the  hearts  of  their 


ON  THE  CHASE  79 

patiently  waiting  countrymen  by  officially 
announcing  to  them  that  the  "Emden'' 
had  at  last  been  destroyed  by  one  of  the 
sixteen  ships  that  were  hunting  her,  and 
that  shipping  could  therefore  be  resumed 
without  fear  of  further  disturbance.  Natu- 
rally, but  unfortunately  for  us,  we  could 
not  know  of  this  at  the  time,  but  learned 
it  later  from  the  newspapers. 

As  no  merchantmen  made  their  appear- 
ance in  the  waters  we  were  ranging,  we 
returned  to  our  former  hunting  ground, 
along  the  east  coast  of  the  Indian  peninsula. 
Our  Commander  decided  to  put  the  oil 
tanks  at  Madras  to  the  test.  On  the 
eighteenth  of  September,  in  the  evening, 
the  "Emden"  entered  the  harbor.  It  so 
happened  that  this  was  the  day  after  the 
one  on  which  the  joyful  tidings  of  the 
"Emden's"  destruction  had  been  officially 
announced.     To  celebrate  the  happy  occa- 


8o  THE   "EMDEN" 

sion,  a  large  company  had  assembled  for 
dinner  at  the  Club.  As  we  were  not  aware 
of  this,  it  was  hardly  our  fault  that  the 
"Emden's"  shells  fell  into  the  soup.  Had 
we  known  of  the  dinner  party,  we  would, 
of  course,  gladly  have  deferred  our  attack 
until  another  day,  as  it  is  the  part  of 
wisdom  never  to  exasperate  the  enemy 
unnecessarily.  A  due  regard  should  always 
be  shown  for  sacred  institutions,  and  dinner 
is  an  institution  with  regard  to  which  the 
English  are  always  keenly  sensitive. 

We  approached  to  within  3000  meters 
of  Madras.  The  harbor  light  was  shining 
peacefully.  It  rendered  us  good  service 
as  we  steered  toward  shore,  for  which  we 
again  take  this  opportunity  to  express  our 
gratitude  to  the  British  Indian  govern- 
ment. A  searchlight  revealed  to  us  the 
object  of  our  quest,  —  the  oil  tanks,  painted 
white    and   ornamented   with    a   stripe   of 


ON  THE  CHASE  8i 

red.  A  couple  of  shells  sent  in  that  direc- 
tion, a  quick  upleaping  of  tongues  of 
bluish-yellow  flame,  streams  of  liquid  fire 
pouring  out  through  the  holes  made  by 
our  shots,  an  enormous  black  cloud  of 
dense  smoke,  —  and,  following  the  advice 
of  the  old  adage,  "A  change  is  good  for 
everybody,"  we  had  sent  several  millions' 
worth  of  the  enemy's  property  up  into  the 
air,  instead  of  down  into  the  sea,  as  here- 
tofore. 

It  seems  that  shots  were  fired  after  us 
from  Madras,  although,  at  the  time,  we 
did  not  know  where  the  shells  came  from. 
There  were  not  many,  however,  and  they 
were  poorly  aimed.  The  English  news- 
papers said  of  us  in  this  connection  that, 
when  we  were  fired  at,  we  quickly  put  out 
all  our  lights,  and,  turning  tail,  got  away 
in  all  haste.  To  this  I  would  say  that,  as 
a  matter  of  course,  we  made  our  approach 


82  THE   "EMDEN" 

to  Madras  without  lights  of  any  kind; 
furthermore,  that  neither  our  Commander 
nor  myself  were  at  the  time  aware  that 
we  were  being  fired  at,  and  that  the  shots 
were  observed  only  by  the  officers  at  the 
stern  of  the  ship.  It  had  not  entered  our 
minds,  therefore,  to  run  from  the  firing. 
In  so  far  as  our  lights  were  concerned, 
our  tactics  were  just  the  reverse  of  those 
that  were  ascribed  to  us.  As  soon  as  we 
had  fired  the  necessary  number  of  shots, 
we  lit  up  the  ship,  that  is,  we  made  a  point 
of  showing  as  much  light  as  possible  at 
her  stern,  while  we  took  a  northerly  course. 
Then,  after  a  sufficient  time  had  elapsed, 
we  shut  off  all  lights  and  steered  south- 
ward. 

The  flames  at  Madras  illumined  our 
course  for  a  long  while.  On  the  following 
day,  when  we  were  ninety  nautical  miles 
distant  from  Madras,  we  could  still  see  a 


ON  THE  CHASE  83 

dense  cloud  of  black  smoke  rising  from  the 
burning  oil. 

Past  Pondicherry,  and  around  the  island 
of  Ceylon,  we  continued  our  course,  steadily 
steering  westward  to  reach  the  other  side 
of  India,  and  honor  that  coast  with  our 
presence. 

As  we  learned  from  the  newspapers  some 
time  later,  our  attack  upon  Madras  resulted 
in  a  general  exodus  of  the  European  popu- 
lation from  the  coast  region  into  the 
interior  of  the  country.  Furthermore,  as 
a  result  of  it,  the  English  instituted  a 
searchlight  service  all  along  the  coast, 
that  is,  all  night  long  searchlights  played 
over  the  whole  area  of  water  lying  just 
beyond  the  ports.  This  solved  a  good 
many  navigation  problems  for  us,  and 
again  we  would  express  our  belated  thanks 
to  the  efficient  British  government  authori- 
ties of  India. 


84  THE   "EMDEN" 

On  the  twenty-sixth  day  of  September 
the  "Emden"  lay  just  outside  of  the  port 
of  Colombo.  As  we  were  cruising  back 
and  forth,  suddenly,  in  the  path  of  the 
searchlight,  appeared  a  dark  shadow  that 
rousqd  our  lively  interest.  It  looked  rather 
dangerous  at  first,  but,  upon  closer  in- 
spection, appeared  more  to  our  liking. 
It  was  an  English  steamer,  crammed  up  to 
her  very  throat  with  sugar.  Her  captain 
was  so  exasperated  at  the  idea  of  being 
captured  right  in  the  path  of  the  search- 
lights of  his  own  home  port,  which  had 
been  fortified  for  defence,  and  actually 
within  range  of  the  guns  of  the  British 
forts,  that  he  attempted  to  defy  our  orders. 
For  him  the  unhappy  consequence  of  this 
ill-advised  burst  of  patriotism  was  that  he 
was  not  allowed  time  enough  to  look  for 
so  much  as  a  handkerchief  to  take  with 
him.     Within  five  minutes  the  entire  crew 


ON  THE  CHASE  85 

of  the  steamer  was  taken  off  her,  and 
housed  aboard  our  "junkman."  The  cap- 
tain and  his  engineer  received  the  distinc- 
tion of  being  temporarily  assigned  to  a 
cell  aboard  H.  M.  S.  "Emden."  Ten 
minutes  later  the  sugar  cargo  was  adding 
sweetness  to  the  supper  of  all  the  fish  in 
the  surrounding  water. 

Later,  we  read  in  the  newspapers  the 
most  incredible  pirate  tales  which  this 
captain  had  told,  of  the  "Emden."  Al- 
though admitting  that  he  had  been  well 
treated,  he  nevertheless  complained  that 
the  respect  due  his  standing  had  not  been 
shown  him.  We  wondered  whether  he  had 
expected  the  "Emden's"  commander  to 
relinquish  his  cabin  to  him.  Moreover, 
he  spoke  very  disparagingly  of  the  "Em- 
den's"  condition  in  so  far  as  cleanliness 
was  concerned.  He  said  she  was  not  only 
dirty,  but  scratched  and  dented  as  well. 


86  THE   "EMDEN 


To  this  accusation  we  are  obliged  to  plead 
guilty.  To  be  unintermittently  at  sea 
for  weeks,  to  take  on  coal  from  other 
steamers  at  sea,  and  carry  it  in  such  quan- 
tities that  it  has  to  be  stored  on  deck,  is 
apt  to  leave  its  marks  on  a  ship.  Had 
I  known  beforehand  that  we  were  going 
to  have  so  distinguished  a  guest  aboard, 
my  pride,  as  first  officer  of  the  ship, 
undoubtedly  would  have  induced  me  to 
make  strenuous  eff^orts  to  have  the  ship 
cleaned  and  freshly  painted  for  his  special 
benefit. 

In  addition,  this  critical  gentleman  said 
of  us  that  the  men  of  our  crew  looked 
starved  and  wore  an  air  of  dejection.  To 
this  I  can  but  say  that  it  would  be  doing  a 
gross  injustice  to  the  provisioning  of  the 
English  ships  we  had  captured  to  say  that 
our  men  looked  hungry.  And  their  air  of 
dejection  must  have  impressed  our  guest 


ON  THE  CHASE  87 

SO  forcibly  while  they  were  executing  their 
best  hornpipes  for  his  benefit  to  such  tunes 
as  "That  was  in  Schoneberg  in  the  lovely 
month  of  May,"  or  "Snuten  und  Poten," 
played  by  the  ship's  band  at  the  regular 
after-dinner  concerts. 

Later,  after  our  unwilling  guest  had 
left  us,  and  was  on  his  way,  aboard  our 
next  "junkman"  that  was  sent  off  with  a 
full  load,  he  may  not  have  fared  as  well  as 
he  did  on  the  "Emden."  The  officer  of 
the  prize  crew  that  remained  on  board  the 
"junkman,"  up  to  the  moment  when  she 
was  discharged,  told  us  that  the  officers 
of  the  defunct  sugar  steamer  were  furious 
with  their  captain,  saying  that,  whereas 
he  was  fully  insured,  they  were  not,  and 
therefore  his  foolish  show  of  resistance  had 
cost  them  all  they  owned.  When  the 
captain  came  on  board  the  "junkman," 
his  officers  were  standing  at  the  gangway 


88  THE   "EMDEN" 

ladder,  with  sleeves  rolled  up,  waiting  to 
receive  him.  He  may  have  had  reason  to 
wish  himself  back  on  the  "Emden." 

Meanwhile  the  coaling  question  had 
come  to  be  a  source  of  annoyance  to  us. 
Our  faithful  "Markomannia"  had  no  more 
coal  to  give  us.  To  be  sure,  our  prize, 
the  "  Pontoporros,"  with  her  cargo  of  coal 
from  India,  was  still  with  us.  But  this 
Indian  coal  is  far  from  being  desirable 
fuel,  as  it  not  only  clogs  the  fire  kettles 
with  dirt,  but,  while  it  gives  out  a  minimum 
of  heat,  it  sends  forth  a  maximum  of  smoke, 
and  so  our  prize  was  not  an  unmixed  joy 
to  us.  However,  this  vexed  coal  question 
was  happily  solved  for  us  by  the  English 
Admiralty  in  a  most  satisfactory  manner. 
Before  many  days  had  passed,  a  fine  large 
steamer  of  7000  tonnage,  loaded  with  the 
best  of  Welsh  coal,  en  route  for  Hong 
Kong,  and  destined  for  their  own  use,  was 


ON  THE  CHASE  89 

relinquished  to  us  by  the  English  in  a 
most  unselfish  manner. 

So,  for  the  present,  we  were  most  gener- 
ously supplied  with  the  best  of  fuel,  and 
all  further  anxiety  on  this  account  was 
dismissed  to  the  uncertain  future.  The 
captain  of  our  new  coal-laden  prize  seemed 
to  have  no  scruples  with  regard  to  trans- 
ferring himself,  together  with  his  ship, 
into  German  service.  Willingly  and  faith- 
fully he  cooperated  with  the  officer  of 
the  prize  crew  that  was,  of  course, 
placed  in  command  of  his  ship,  all 
the  while  cheerfully  whistling  "Rule, 
Britannia." 

In  the  meantime,  even  the  English 
government  itself  had  become  convinced 
that  the  destruction  of  the  "Emden" 
had,  after  all,  not  been  accomplished.  So 
another  order  to  cancel  all  sailings  was 
issued.    There  was,   therefore,   no    reason 


90  THE  "EMDEN" 

for  the  "Emden"  to  remain  in  these  waters 
any  longer.  So  our  Commander  decided 
to  devote  this  interim  of  enforced  idleness 
to  giving  the  "Emden"  the  attention  that 
her  long  continued  cruise  had  made  very 
necessary.  The  ship's  bottom  was  espe- 
cially in  need  of  a  cleaning.  So  we  turned 
her  nose  to  the  south. 


IV 
THE  FLYING  DUTCHMAN 


Chapter  IV 
THE  FLYING  DUTCHMAN 

We  knew  quite  well  that  sixteen  hostile 
ships  were  in  pursuit  of  us,  —  British, 
French,  and  Japanese.  We  never  had 
any  information  with  regard  to  the  position 
of  these  ships,  nor  of  their  character,  which, 
after  all,  could  matter  very  little  to  us, 
since  the  "Emden"  was  the  smallest  and 
least  formidable  of  all  the  war  ships  in 
the  Indian  Ocean.  There  was  not  a  hostile 
cruiser,  that  she  was  likely  to  meet,  that 
was  not  her  superior  in  strength.  That 
the  "Emden's"  career  must  soon  be  cut 
short  was  therefore  a  prospect  of  which 
everyone  aboard  her  felt  certain.  Many 
hounds  are  certain  death  to  the  hare. 

Even  should  the  inevitable  encounter  be 
with  a  hostile  cruiser  that  was  not  much 


94  THE   "EMDEN" 

more  powerful  than  the  "Emden"  herself, 
she  would  nevertheless  sustain  injuries, 
and  the  ship's  personnel  suffer  loss  sufficient 
to  oblige  us  to  abandon  our  present  activity. 
There  was  not  a  port  where  we  could  put 
in  to  make  repairs,  and  vacancies  that 
might  occur  in  the  personnel  could  not  be 
filled  in  any  case.  Our  Commander  had 
set  this  aspect  of  affairs  before  us,  sharply 
and  clearly,  at  the  very  outset  of  the 
"Emden's"  career,  pointing  out  that  the 
only  future  ahead  of  the  "Emden"  was  to 
inflict  as  much  damage  as  possible  upon 
the  enemy  before  she  herself  should  be 
destroyed,  which,  in  any  event,  could  be 
but  a  question  of  time. 

That  our  foes  were  always  round  about 
us,  and  at  times  very  near,  we  learned 
from  the  wireless  messages  which  they  were 
constantly  exchanging.  Although  these 
gave  us  no  definite   information,  as   they 


THE  FLYING  DUTCHMAN  95 

were  in  secret  code,  they  nevertheless 
revealed  to  us,  by  their  greater  or  less 
distinctness,  the  distance  between  us  and 
the  ship  that  was  sending  the  messages. 
This,  to  be  sure,  was  no  great  gain,  as  the 
enemy  might  be  in  any  direction  from  us. 
A  manoeuvre  on  our  part,  for  the  purpose 
of  avoiding  the  enemy,  could  be  to  little 
purpose  therefore.  By  such  an  attempt 
we  might,  instead  of  eluding  the  foe,  have 
run  straight  into  the  enemy's  arms. 

It  has  been  frequently  said  by  the 
English  that  it  was  wholly  due  to  her  great 
speed  that  the  "Emden''  remained  afloat 
as  long  as  she  did.  This  is  not  the  case. 
Aside  from  the  fact  that  the  ship's  bottom 
was  so  heavy  with  barnacles,  etc.,  that  the 
"Emden"  could  not  run  at  her  highest 
speed,  she  could  at  no  time  make  more 
than  eleven  nautical  miles  on  an  average, 
for   the   very   good    reason   that   the   coal 


96  THE   "EMDEN" 

tenders,  upon  which  she  was  dependent 
for  fuel,  could  travel  no  faster.  Moreover, 
a  greater  speed  would  have  profited  us 
little.  Whereas,  at  a  speed  of  eleven 
miles,  we  found  it  possible  to  avoid  a 
hostile  encounter,  we  might,  by  the  greater 
rate  of  twenty  miles  an  hour,  have  rushed 
straight  upon  the  enemy. 

However,  the  wireless  messages  we  caught 
up,  as  we  came  near  t6  a  hostile  ship,  did 
tell  us  something,  —  they  revealed  to  us 
the  nationality  of  the  ship  that  was  sending 
them.  For  there  was  a  distinguishable 
difference  between  the  wireless  messages 
sent  by  the  ships  of  our  various  foes,  — 
those  sent  by  the  English  were  unlike  the 
French,  and  these,  in  turn,  differed  from 
the  Japanese  or  Russian,  if,  indeed,  the 
latter  ever  got  so  far  as  to  use  a  wireless 
apparatus  at  all. 

During  these  days  of  raiding,  our  life  on 


THE  FLYING  DUTCHMAN  97 

board  ship  was  much  as  it  had  been  in 
times  of  peace.  Undoubtedly  there  were 
a  few  more  lookouts  on  duty  at  night, 
and,  of  course,  guns  and  torpedoes  were 
ready  for  use  at  a  moment's  notice,  both 
by  day  and  by  night.  The  "Emden's'' 
Commander  spent  most  of  his  time  on  the 
bridge,  where  comfortable  chairs  had  been 
placed  for  his  convenience,  so  that  he 
could  sleep  there,  and  be  ready  instantly 
for  any  emergency.  His  days  were  chiefly 
devoted  to  the  study  of  marine  charts, 
sailors'  handbooks,  and  other  like  sources 
of  information.  In  long  hours  of  careful 
preparation  the  plans  were  here  developed 
that,  when  carried  out,  resulted  in  the 
*'Emden's"  remarkable  achievements. 

The  devotion  of  the  "Emden's"  crew  to 
their  Commander  was  touching  in  the 
extreme.  The  men  appreciated  the  high 
qualities   of  their   leader,    were    proud    of 


98  THE  "EMDEN" 

their  ship,  and  gloried  in  its  successful 
career.  If,  at  any  time  when  they  were 
singing,  or  were  otherwise  noisy,  the  word 
was  passed  along,  **The  Commander  is 
tired,''  they  would  become  instantly  quiet. 
At  a  word  of  encouragement  from  him 
the  men  would  accomplish  some  truly 
wonderful  feats  in  connection  with  diffi- 
cult undertakings,  such  as  coaling  at  sea 
under  most  adverse  conditions,  and  in 
spite  of  extreme  fatigue.  Many  a  time, 
while  making  the  rounds  of  the  ship,  I 
have  heard  them  talking  about  their 
"Captain,"  and  the  tenor  of  their  conversa- 
tion was  usually  expressed  in  a  final  re- 
mark, such  as,  "Yes,  our  Commander  is 
fine  at  it!" 

In  the  officers'  mess,  also,  life  went  on 
much  as  it  did  in  days  of  peace.  To  be 
sure,  the  comfortable  and  cozy  appearance 
of  the  rooms  was  a  thing  of  the  past.    All 


THE  FLYING  DUTCHMAN  99 

woodwork  had  been  removed,  and  every- 
thing of  inflammable  material,  such  as 
curtains,  and  the  like,  had  been  banished. 
Ammunition  was  constantly  being  trans- 
ported through  the  mess,  and  other  work  of 
a  like  nature  was  going  on  there,  both  by 
day  and  by  night.  The  gun  that  had  been 
mounted  in  the  officers'  living  room  had 
to  be  kept  in  readiness  for  use  at  any 
moment.  The  officers  who  were  not  on 
duty,  and  therefore  at  a  particular  station, 
slept  in  hammocks  up  on  the  poop  when 
the  weather  was  fair,  or,  if  it  rained,  they 
occupied  mattresses  or  hammocks  in  the 
officers'  mess,  all  of  them  together.  To 
undress  was  a  luxury  in  which  we  no  longer 
indulged.  Everyone  had  to  be  ready  to 
get  to  his  post  at  a  moment's  notice. 

The  pleasantest  hours  of  our  life  on  board 
were  always  those  spent  in  reading  the 
newspapers  taken  from  captured  steamers. 


loo  THE   "EMDEN" 

They  were  the  bridge  that  spanned  the 
gulf  that  yawned  between  us  and  the  rest 
of  the  world.  Even  though  all  the  news 
we  received  came  through  the  medium  of 
the  British  press,  nevertheless  we  managed 
to  extract  some  semblance  of  truth  from 
out  the  network  of  lies,  more  especially  so 
after  we  had  had  a  longer  experience  with 
the  reports  sent  out  by  the  Renter  News 
Agency.  For  instance,  we  found  it  very 
reassuring  to  discover,  by  consulting  the 
map,  that  the  ^'retreat  of  the  Germans  from 
France,"  which  the  Agency  had  declared 
to  amount  "almost  to  a  rout,"  had  pro- 
ceeded in  a  westerly  direction.  Nor  did 
we  allow  ourselves  to  be  much  disturbed 
by  the  fact  that  when  we  added  up  the 
amazing  figures  that  announced  the  Ger- 
man losses,  their  total  amounted  to  con- 
siderably more  than  the  entire  population 
of  Germany. 


•  CO 


THE  FLYING  DUTCHMAN  loi 

To  the  newspapers  of  India  we  were 
indebted  also  for  information  concerning 
the  "Emden's"  achievements,  and  we  were 
astonished  at  the  way  in  which  they  re- 
garded the  whole  matter.  They  seemed 
to  look  at  it  wholly  as  though  it  were  a 
kind  of  sport  we  were  engaged  in,  —  poked 
fun  at  their  own  war  ships  which,  in  spite 
of  their  numbers,  had  failed  to  capture  the 
"Emden,"  spoke  of  our  bombardment  of 
the  Madras  oil  tanks  as  though  it  were  a 
huge  joke,  made  our  Commander  an  honor- 
ary member  of  the  principal  club  of  Cal- 
cutta, and  indulged  in  a  large  number  of 
"'Emden'  yarns."  These  were  of  so  ab- 
surd a  character  that  no  one  would  have 
thought  of  offering  them,  as  actual  oc- 
currences, to  any  reading  public  except 
one  of  as  little  judgment  in  such  matters 
as  the  English  are.  It  will  be  illuminating 
to  quote  one  or  two  typical  ones  as  examples. 


I02  THE  "EMDEN' 


An  Indian  newspaper  published  the  story 
told  by  the  captain  of  a  merchantman, 
who  claimed  to  have  met  the  "Emden'* 
without  having  been  captured  by  her. 
That  any  faith  was  placed  in  even  so  much 
of  the  story  is  in  itself  evidence  of  the 
credulity  of  the  British  reading  public,  for 
the  captain  of  an  English  steamer  that 
came  in  contact  with  the  "Emden"  never 
got  away  with  his  ship.  The  captain's 
story  was  as  follows :  — 

It  was  at  night,  and  I  was  steering 
toward  the  Sandhead  lightship,  but  failed 
to  find  it  where  I  looked  for  it.  Before 
long,  however,  I  saw  the  pilot  boat,  which 
threw  her  searchlight  on  us.  (I  must 
explain  that  the  pilot  steamers  of  this 
region  are,  as  a  rule,  equipped  with  search- 
lights for  the  purpose  of  attracting  incoming 
vessels  to  themselves.)  I  steered  my  ship 
in  the  direction  of  the  pilot  boat,  but  was 


THE  FLYING  DUTCHMAN  103 

surprised  to  find  that  the  distance  between 
us  did  not  diminish,  and  that  the  pilot, 
instead  of  approaching,  was  running  away 
from  me.  I  ordered  my  engineer  to  drive 
the  fires  to  the  Hmit,  and  to  work  the 
engine  at  maximum  speed.  In  spite  of 
all  this,  the  difference  between  us  remained 
the  same.  I  puzzled  my  brain  over  this 
unusual  conduct  on  the  part  of  the  pilot. 
Before  I  could  arrive  at  any  conclusion, 
however,  and  to  my  utter  amazement,  the 
supposed  pilot  began  to  navigate  in  circles, 
small  at  first,  but  growing  larger  and 
larger  all  the  time.  Like  mad  I  raced  after 
her,  and  tried  to  overtake  her  by  steering 
a  short  cut  on  a  chord  of  the  circle.  The 
signal  I  sounded  with  my  steam  whistle 
remained  unnoticed.  I  failed  to  overtake 
the  pilot  boat.  After  a  half  hour's  mad 
chase  after  her,  the  pilot  steamer  stopped 
playing  her  searchlight,  and  left  me  staring 


104  THE  ^'EMDEN" 

foolishly  into  the  darkness.  Later,  I 
learned  that  the  supposed  pilot  steamer 
was  none  other  than  the  "Emden." 

This  was  the  captain's  story.  Angelic 
simplicity! 

Another  "Emden"  yarn  was  printed  by 
a  Calcutta  newspaper,  and  was  to  this 
effect :  — 

One  day  an  urgent  wireless  message  was 
received  by  the  government  authorities, 
saying  that  an  English  cruiser,  coming  from 
Singapore,  had  met  the  "Emden,"  and  in 
the  pursuit  of  her  had  used  up  every  bit 
of  coal  in  the  bunkers,  and  was  now  keeping 
her  engines  going  by  burning  all  available 
material,  such  as  beds,  wardrobes,  furniture 
of  every  kind,  etc.,  in  her  endeavor  to  reach 
a  port  on  the  coast  of  India.  She  urgently 
asked  that  several  thousand  tons  of  coal 
be  forwarded  immediately  to  the  port  she 
hoped  to  reach.    The  devoted  and  ener- 


THE  FLYING  DUTCHMAN  105 

getic  government  authorities  at  once  under- 
took vigorous  measures  to  comply  with 
the  request,  and  then  sent  the  message  on 
to  the  next  government  station,  with  the 
order  to  pass  it  along.  In  their  eagerness 
to  participate  in  anything  that  might 
promote  the  interests  of  the  government, 
the  officials  at  this  second  station  sent  the 
message  on  to  the  next  one,  where  those  in 
charge,  also  filled  with  a  desire  to  do  some- 
thing, decided  to  give  immediate  orders 
to  a  coal  company,  which,  in  the  mean- 
time, had  been  swamped  with  orders  from 
all  the  stations  where  the  message  had 
been  previously  received.  Eager  to  make 
the  most  of  this  unusual  opportunity  for 
business,  the  coal  company  set  to  work  at 
once  to  accomplish  something.  Hundreds 
and  hundreds  of  coolies  were  hired ;  moun- 
tains of  coal  were  loaded  into  cars  that 
were    quickly    procured.     Day    and    night 


io6  THE  "EMDEN" 

the  work  went  on  without  intermission. 
In  the  shortest  time  possible  train  after 
train,  piled  high  with  the  much  desired 
black  diamonds,  was  rolling  away,  at  the 
enormous  speed  of  forty  kilometers  (about 
twenty-five  miles)  an  hour,  toward  the 
port  where  the  cruiser  was  expected  to 
put  in.  Here,  also,  eager  preparations  were 
in  progress,  so  that  the  cruiser  might  coal 
as  quickly  as  possible.  No  time  must  be 
lost  in  the  endeavor  to  catch  the  "Emden." 
To  the  great  surprise  —  and  delight  — 
of  the  coolies,  to  the  equal  degree  of  aston- 
ishment, but  less  delight,  of  the  railroad 
officials,  harbor  master,  and  residents  of  the 
port,  and  to  the  utter  chagrin  of  the  coal 
company  and  the  government  authorities, 
no  British  cruiser  put  in  an  appearance. 
After  a  while,  this  mixed-up  state  of  affairs 
began  to  clear.  The  Indian  government 
had  discovered  the  key  to  the  situation. 


THE  FLYING  DUTCHMAN  107 

The  wireless  message  must  have  come 
from  the  "Emden"!  How  she  could  have 
managed  to  send  it  in  the  Enghsh  secret 
code,  in  which  the  telegram  was  worded, 
the  British  government  failed  to  explain 
to  the  credulous  public. 

Of  "*Emden'  yarns"  such  as  these 
there  was  an  untold  number.  On  board 
ship  we  kept  a  scrap-book  in  which  they 
were  all  preserved,  but  this,  unfortunately, 
was  lost,  together  with  much  that  was  of 
higher  value. 

Amusement  of  a  different  nature  was 
afforded  the  officers'  mess  by  our  "war 
cats,"  as  we  called  them.  On  the  day 
before  we  left  Tsingtao  a  cat  had  come 
on  board,  and  so  had  come  along  with  us. 
In  course  of  time,  this  cat  experienced  the 
joys  of  motherhood.  Lying  in  my  ham- 
mock one  morning,  I  opened  my  eyes  upon 
a  charming  scene  of  family  life.    Just  be- 


io8  THE  "EMDEN" 

neath  me,  a  little  to  one  side,  on  a  mattress 
on  the  floor  of  the  deck,  lay  Lieutenant 
Schall,  sleeping  the  sleep  of  the  just.  Close 
beside  him,  on  the  same  mattress,  lay  the 
cat,  with  a  family  of  five  newly  born  kittens. 
After  I  had  quickly  wakened  the  other 
officers  who  were  sleeping  near,  so  that 
they  might  enjoy  the  sight  of  this  peaceful 
domesticity,  we  poked  Lieutenant  Schall 
until  he,  too,  opened  his  eyes  upon  the 
scene.  At  first  he  did  not  seem  to  share 
our  pleasure  in  it,  however,  but,  with  a 
muttered  oath,  hurried  off  to  the  washroom. 
In  conformity  to  the  laws  that  decide 
nationality,  the  war  kittens  were  declared 
to  belong  to  our  mess.  In  a  vacant  corner, 
where  a  sofa  had  once  stood,  we  set  up  a 
little  wooden  house,  and  made  a  bed  in  it 
for  the  cat  and  her  kittens.  Thanks  to  the 
devoted  care  of  all  the  ship's  officers  and 
the    men   who   served    them,    the    kittens 


THE  FLYING  DUTCHMAN  109 

prospered  wonderfully.  The  instinct  by 
which  they  were  prevented  from  killing 
themselves  with  overeating  roused  our 
admiration.  In  a  short  time  the  tiny 
creatures  were  able  to  venture  upon  short 
excursions  away  from  their  bed.  There- 
after, all  of  us,  when  moving  about  the 
mess,  picked  our  steps  most  cautiously, 
because  the  kittens  were  always  most 
likely  to  be  just  where  we  were  about  to 
place  our  feet.  There  was  special  need  of 
this  precaution  at  night. 

When  this  consideration  for  our  little 
guests  had  reached  a  point  where  it  threat- 
ened to  interfere  with  certain  nightly  ma- 
noeuvres, the  cat  house  was  placed  within 
an  enclosure.  Later,  when  the  tiny  things 
had  developed  into  cunning  creatures,  they 
used  to  scamper  about  on  our  afternoon  cof- 
fee table,  where  they  engaged  in  the  most 
amusing  wrestling  matches.    To  knock  over 


no  THE  "EMDEN' 


the  pictures  on  my  writing  desk,  and  to 
investigate  the  contents  of  my  waste  basket 
formed  some  of  their  chief  amusement. 

So  that  we  might  be  able  to  distinguish 
them,  one  from  the  other,  we  tied  different 
colored  ribbons  around  their  necks.  One 
day  we  decided  that  they  must  be 
christened.  We  named  them  for  the 
steamers  that  we  had  captured.  So  we 
had  a  little  Pontoporros,  a  small  Lovat- 
Indus,  and  a  little  Cabigna  and  King  Lud 
capering  about  on  our  table.  Only  for 
the  last  and  tiniest  kitten  did  we  find  it 
difficult  to  select  a  suitable  name.  It  was 
the  weakling  of  the  family,  for  in  its 
physical  development  it  had  remained  far 
behind  its  brothers  and  sisters.  Its  small 
fragile  body  was  supported  on  four  tottering 
spindle  legs,  and  it  had  an  astonishingly 
big  head,  from  which  two  great,  round  eyes 
looked  foolishly  out  upon  the  world.     So 


THE  FLYING  DUTCHMAN  iii 

we  thought  that  the  next  name  in  order, 
which  happened  to  be  "The  Diplomat," 
was  hardly  appropriate.  But  it  received 
a  most  fitting  name  from  one  of  the  lieuten- 
ants, who  always  referred  to  it  as  "the 
little  idiot." 

The  kittens  were  often  up  on  the  poop, 
frolicking  in  the  sunshine.  At  such  times 
all  the  officers,  who  happened  to  be  off 
duty,  devoted  themselves  to  nurse-maid 
service,  in  order  to  prevent  the  kittens 
from  falling  overboard.  Nevertheless,  one 
day  the  little  idiot  succeeded  in  eluding 
our  watchful  care.  When  we  assembled 
at  the  table  for  our  afternoon  coffee,  the 
kitten  was  missing,  and  could  not  be  found 
in  spite  of  diligent  search  for  it.  The 
officers  who  had  been  on  kitten-watch  duty 
earnestly  assured  us  that  the  missing  one 
could  not  possibly  have  tumbled  over- 
board.    But  it  was  gone,  and  was  nowhere 


112  THE  "EMDEN  = 


to  be  found.  Deep  despondency  reigned 
as  a  consequence  of  the  kitten's  loss,  but 
this  quickly  gave  place  to  loud  rejoicing 
when,  in  the  course  of  the  nightly  round  of 
the  ship,  inspection  of  the  rear  10.5-cm. 
ammunition  magazine  revealed  the  little 
idiot  sleeping  peacefully  on  one  of  the 
cases  of  ammunition.  It  had  got  down 
there  by  a  leap  from  the  poop  through  the 
ammunition  shaft,  a  descent  of  about  nine 
meters.  For  human  creatures  of  the  kit- 
ten's tender  age  we  should  not  advise  so 
daring  an  undertaking.  The  little  idiot, 
however,  was  not  much  the  worse  for  it. 
He  was  lame  in  one  of  his  hind  legs  for  a 
few  days,  and  then  all  was  well  with  him 
again. 

Our  kittens  were  not  the  only  animals 
that  the  war  had  brought  aboard  our  ship. 
If  some  one  had  dropped  from  the  sky, 
and  landed  on  the  "Emden"  on  one  of 


THE  FLYING  DUTCHMAN  113 

these  days,  he  would  have  opened  his  eyes 
in  wonderment  at  sight  of  this  "man-of- 
war."  Forward,  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
drain  pipe,  he  would  have  discovered  one 
or  two  pigs,  grunting  with  satisfaction. 
Near  by,  he  would  have  seen  a  couple  of 
lambs  and  a  sheep  or  two,  bleating  peace- 
fully. By  a  walk  aft  he  would,  in  all 
probability,  have  scared  up  a  whole  flock 
of  pigeons  that  had  been  sitting  on  the 
rails  which  served  for  the  transportation 
of  ammunition,  and  that,  at  his  approach, 
would  take  refuge  in  the  pigeon  house  that 
had  been  fastened  against  one  of  the 
funnels.  In  his  further  progress  he  would 
most  likely  have  frightened  up  a  few  dozen 
hens  that  would  then  have  run  cackling 
about  his  heels,  the  noise  they  made  being 
only  outdone  by  the  still  louder  cackling 
of  a  flock  of  geese  engaged  in  unsuccessful 
attempts  at  swimming  in  a  large  half-tub 


114  THE  "EMDEN" 

aft,  and  at  the  same  time  trying  to  drink 
salt  water.  We  always  had  a  great  deal 
of  live  stock  on  board,  all  of  which  we  had 
taken  from  the  captured  steamers,  and 
which  lent  variety  to  our  table.  We  had 
a  less  practical,  but  more  ornamental 
addition  to  our  menagerie  in  a  dwarf 
antelope,  which  I  came  upon  one  day 
in  the  forward  battery.  How  the  dainty 
creature  got  there  has  always  remained  a 
mystery  to  me. 

All  our  animals  received  devoted  care 
from  the  men  of  the  crew.  Indeed,  I 
cannot  suppress  a  suspicion  that  the  pigs 
were  so  assiduously  fed  with  all  remnants 
left  from  our  own  meals,  in  the  secret  hope 
that  this  would  hasten  the  day  when  they 
would  be  served  up  for  our  dinners. 

The  men  had  much  leisure.  Under  exist- 
ing circumstances  no  regular  drills,  such  as 
are  customary  in  time  of  peace,  could  be 


THE  FLYING  DUTCHMAN  115 

undertaken.  A  large  part  of  the  crew 
was  necessarily  constantly  on  duty,  in 
service  at  the  engines,  or  elsewhere  in  the 
ship,  each  man  ready  at  his  post.  The 
rest  of  the  men  had  to  be  kept  in  good 
physical  condition,  so  as  to  be  able  to  meet 
any  sudden  emergency  which  the  war  might 
bring  about.  In  fair  weather  the  men 
slept  at  their  stations,  ready  for  action 
with  the  guns.  It  was  especially  desirable 
to  provide  comfortable  and  airy  sleeping 
places  for  the  men  who  served  in  the 
engine  room.  Oftentimes  the  rooms  pro- 
vided for  this  purpose  were  rendered  unfit 
for  occupation  by  the  extreme  heat  of  the 
tropical  climate.  A  part  of  deck  was 
therefore  set  aside  as  a  sleeping  place  for 
the  men,  and  provision  made  for  the  hang- 
ing of  their  hammocks  there.  Anyone  step- 
ping out  upon  this  deck  on  a  fair  night 
would  have  seen  a  "sleeping  host"  sus- 


ii6  THE  "EMDEN" 


pended  in  hammocks,  all  gently  swaying 
with  the  motion  of  the  ship. 

A  part  of  the  day  was  often  devoted 
to  giving  the  crew  a  report  or  explanation 
of  the  existing  war  situation,  in  so  far  as 
this  was  possible.  Oftentimes  the  news- 
papers were  read  aloud,  and  many  of  the 
books  belonging  to  the  officers  found  their 
way  forward,  to  help  pass  the  time  pleas- 
antly for  the  men. 

To  keep  them  informed  with  regard  to 
the  progress  of  the  war  was  a  duty  which 
I  reserved  for  myself.  A  large  map  of 
Germany  and  the  adjacent  countries  was 
drawn,  and  on  it  the  course  of  events  on 
land  was  traced. 

It  was  not  an  easy  matter  for  me  to  decide 
just  how  to  handle  the  subject  of  the  war 
in  my  talks  to  the  crew.  My  only  sources 
of  information  with  regard  to  it  were  the 
English  newspapers,  which,  as  is  notorious, 


THE  FLYING  DUTCHMAN  117 

habitually  published  the  most  absurd  mis- 
representations of  what  had  occurred. 
Constant  annihilation  of  the  German 
armies,  utter  disorganization  everywhere, 
complete  collapse,  starvation,  revolution, 
epidemic  of  suicide  among  German  army 
corps  commanders  were  common  items  of 
daily  news.  Great  headlines  announced 
that  the  Emperor  had  been  wounded,  the 
Crown  Prince  had  fallen,  Bavaria  had  with- 
drawn from  the  Empire,  and  other  like 
nonsense. 

One  course  that  was  open  to  me  in  deal- 
ing with  these  newspaper  eccentricities 
was  to  draw  my  own  conclusion  from  them, 
and  present  this  to  the  men,  with  a  total 
disregard  of  the  most  barefaced  English 
lies;  for  continued  bad  news  from  home 
could  not  fail,  in  the  end,  to  affect  the 
spirits  of  the  men.  On  the  other  hand,  I 
had  every  reason  to  believe  that  eventually 


ii8  THE   "EMDEN" 

the  newspaper  reports  would  reach  the 
men  after  all.  My  serving  man  would 
most  likely  find  newspapers  in  my  room, 
and  read  them.  The  mess  orderlies  were 
present,  and  therefore  within  hearing,  when 
the  officers  read  the  newspapers,  and  dis- 
cussed their  contents.  Now,  if  what  I 
told  the  crew  had  been  at  variance  with 
that  which  was  repeated  to  them  by  the 
orderlies,  it  could  but  be  expected  that  the 
thought  would  suggest  itself  to  them  that 
I  was  intentionally  representing  matters 
in  a  favorable  light,  and  that,  after  all, 
the  outlook  for  Germany  was  more  serious 
than  I  was  willing  to  admit.  A  misunder- 
standing such  as  this  had  to  be  avoided 
at  all  hazards.  So,  from  the  outset,  I  told 
the  men  that  I  intended  to  read  the  news- 
papers to  them,  word  for  word,  and  then 
at  the  close,  I  would  give  them  my  opinion 
of  what  had  been  read. 


THE  FLYING  DUTCHMAN  119 

As  an  illustration  of  how  much  reliance 
could  be  placed  in  the  reports  of  the  Renter 
Agency,  a  telegram  which  we  had  inter- 
cepted early  in  August,  before  we  had  left 
the  Yellow  Sea,  served  my  purpose  very 
well.  It  read:  *' Official.  The  'Emden' 
sunk  in  battle  with  the  'Askold.'" 

There  could  be  no  doubt  in  the  minds  of 
my  hearers  that  this  was,  to  say  the  least, 
a  gross  exaggeration.  I  could  therefore 
use  this  telegram  as  a  basis  for  the  belief 
that  all  the  rest  of  the  newspaper  informa- 
tion had  about  as  much  foundation  of 
truth. 

The  men  were  not  slow  to  realize  how 
little  faith  was  to  be  placed  in  these  English 
reports. 

Great  hilarity  was  caused  one  day  by  a 
map  we  found  in  one  of  the  papers,  repre- 
senting Germany  after  the  British  lion  had 
divided  the  spoils.     On  this  map  France 


I20  THE  "EMDEN" 

extended  to  the  Weser  and  Werra  rivers, 
and  to  the  Bavarian  frontier,  Denmark, 
down  to  a  line  drawn  through  Wismar, 
Wittenberge,  Magdeburg,  Hanover,  and 
Bremen;  England  had  swallowed  up  Olden- 
burg and  Hanover;  the  country  east  of 
the  Elbe,  including  Saxony,  had  been  de- 
livered into  the  hands  of  the  Czar;  Bavaria 
was  an  independent  country;  of  the  German 
Empire  there  was  nothing  left  except  a 
little  spot  called  "Thiiringen." 

Henceforth  the  Bavarians  and  Thiiring- 
ians  among  us  carried  their  heads  very 
high,  —  the  former,  because  their  homeland 
had  been  recognized  even  by  the  enemy  as 
being  an  essential  element,  and  the  latter, 
because  theirs  seemed  to  be  regarded  as 
the  nucleus  of  the  Empire. 

What  sport  we  made  of  it ! 

The  men  always  looked  forward  with 
eagerness    to    the    time    for    reading    the 


THE  FLYING  DUTCHMAN  121 

newspapers.  As  soon  as  the  papers  found 
on  a  captured  ship  had  been  brought 
aboard  the  "Emden,"  all  eyes  asked  an 
unuttered  question  —  "When  is  the  reading 
to  come  off?"  On  such  occasions  disputes, 
otherwise  unheard  of,  were  likely  to  arise 
among  the  men  of  the  crew  as  to  whose 
turn  it  was  to  be  on  duty,  for  no  one  wanted 
to  miss  the  reading.  Whenever  the  whistle 
shrilled  out  the  call:  "All  hands  to  the 
forecastle,"  it  was  invariably  greeted  with 
an  inarticulate  yell  of  delight  that  rang  aft 
from  the  forward  part  of  the  ship. 

Then,  after  the  newspapers  had  been 
read,  and  as  clear  a  portrayal  as  possible 
had  been  given  of  the  most  recent  events  of 
the  war,  there  were  always  many  questions 
asked  with  regard  to  one  point  or  another. 

The  chief  interest  was  ever  in  the  ships 
of  the  squadron.  The  victory  of  Santa 
Maria,  when,  for  the  first  time  in  a  hundred 


122  THE   "EMDEN" 

years  an  English  squadron  had  suffered 
decided  defeat  at  the  hands  of  an  equal 
antagonist,  had,  naturally  enough,  roused 
great  enthusiasm.  Everyone  aboard  our 
ship  realized  that  the  fate  of  all  the  other 
ships  of  the  squadron  was  sealed,  quite  as 
well  as  was  that  of  the  "Emden."  For 
this  very  reason  it  gave  us  all  a  feeling  of 
satisfaction  and  pride  to  know  that,  before 
they  had  met  their  doom,  our  armored 
cruisers  had  succeeded  in  gaining  for  the 
Germans  the  first  victory  at  sea,  and  in 
inflicting  upon  the  English  their  first  naval 
defeat  in  a  hundred  years. 

Duty  aboard  the  "Emden"  consisted 
chiefly  in  keeping  the  ship  itself,  the 
engines,  and  the  armament  in  condition. 
To  provide  a  source  of  refreshment  for  the 
crew,  a  large  number  of  shower  baths, 
made  out  of  old  pipes,  had  been  arranged 
up  on  deck.     The  entire  crew  had  a  shower 


THE  FLYING  DUTCHMAN  123 

bath  three  times  a  day,  each  man  being 
allowed  to  enjoy  it  as  long  as  he  liked. 

The  state  of  health  aboard  the  "Emden" 
was  excellent.  From  the  time  we  left 
Tsingtao  until  the  day  of  our  encounter 
with  the  "Sidney,"  there  was  not  a  case 
of  sickness  on  board. 

Every  afternoon  the  ship's  band  gave  us 
quite  a  long  concert.  At  such  times  the 
men  all  sat  cozily  about  on  the  forecastle, 
listening  to  the  music,  some  joining  in 
with  their  voices,  while  others  smoked  or 
danced.  In  the  evening,  after  darkness 
had  set  in,  the  singers  aboard  usually  got 
together,  and  then  every  possible  and 
impossible  song  was  sung  by  a  chorus  that 
was  excellent  both  in  volume  and  quality. 
The  "possible"  songs  were,  to  a  great 
extent,  our  beautiful  German  national 
melodies,  and  these  were  always  well  ren- 
dered.    The   "impossible"   ones  were  fre- 


124  THE   "EMDEN" 

quently  improvised  for  the  occasion.  In 
these,  clearness  of  enunciation  was  always 
a  greater  feature  than  either  rhyme  or 
rhythm.  The  singing  invariably  closed 
with  the  "Watch  on  the  Rhine,"  in  which 
all  hands  on  deck  joined. 

Distributing  the  booty  we  had  taken 
from  a  captured  ship  was  always  an  occa- 
sion about  which  centered  a  great  deal  of 
interest.  Anything  of  a  useful  nature, 
especially  everything  in  the  line  of  food, 
was,  as  a  matter  of  course,  taken  aboard 
the  "  Emden."  As  a  result,  veritable  moun- 
tains of  canned  goods  were  stored  away  in 
a  place  set  apart  for  them  on  the  forward 
deck.  Casks  full  of  delectable  things  were 
there.  Hams  and  sausages  dangled  down 
from  the  engine  skylight.  There  were 
stacks  of  chocolate  and  confectionery,  and 
bottles  labelled  "Claret"  and  "Cognac," 
with  three  stars. 


THE  FLYING  DUTCHMAN  125 

To  the  accompaniment  of  a  barnyard 
medley  of  grunting,  squeaking,  bleating, 
and  cackling,  the  different  kinds  of  live- 
stock that  were  to  be  entered  upon  the 
inventory  were  driven  to  the  various  places 
prepared  for  them.  The  steward  stood  by 
with  his  assistants  and  entered  everything 
upon  his  list.  When  his  account  was 
complete,  the  distribution  took  place.  The 
men  stood  lined  up  in  a  wide  circle,  smoking 
and  chatting  while  they  waited,  and  when 
they  had  received  their  share,  they  had 
their  hands  full  for  quite  a  while,  as  they 
carried  off  all  the  good  things,  and  stored 
them  away  in  their  end  of  the  ship. 

So  as  to  be  able  to  do  justice  to  all  that 
fortune  bestowed  upon  us,  an  extra  meal 
or  two  had  to  be  tucked  in  between  the 
usual  ones.  So,  with  our  afternoon  coffee 
we  now  had  chocolate  or  bonbons.  For 
the  smokers  there  were  more  than  250,000 


126  ''THE   EMDEN" 

cigarettes  stored  away,  and  when,  in  the 
evening,  they  had  been  passed  around,  the 
deck  looked  as  though  several  hundred 
fireflies  were  flitting  about  it.  The  English 
flour,  which  we  found  in  great  abundance, 
kept  our  bakers  busy,  with  the  result  that 
we  had  most  excellent  bread.  Because  of 
this  superabundance  of  provisions,  the  chief 
concern  of  the  responsible  officers  was  to 
prevent  an  overfeeding  of  the  men,  and 
not,  as  in  time  of  peace,  to  see  to  it  that 
they  were  not  undernourished. 

That  many  other  useful  things  besides 
eatables  found  their  way  to  the  "Emden," 
it  is  needless  to  say.  Whenever  I  went 
aboard  a  captured  steamer,  a  list  of  all  the 
articles  desired  was  always  given  me. 
There  were  but  few  times  when  these 
wishes  remained  unfulfilled,  even  when 
they  called  for  such  unusual  things  as  screw- 
taps,  fine  or  course,  soldering  lamps,  pias- 


THE  FLYING  DUTCHMAN  127 

sava  brooms,  sheets  of  rubber,  hand  vices, 
bull's-eye  lanterns,  iron  bars,  firebricks, 
machine  oil,  and  the  like. 

The  men  I  took  with  me  to  the  captured 
steamers  to  carry  the  things  aboard  the 
"Emden,"  usually  knew  just  what  the  men 
of  our  crew  would  like  to  get  of  such  articles 
as  were  to  be  had,  but  which  did  not  appear 
on  my  list.  But  all  the  suggestions  that 
were  made  to  me  in  this  respect  could  not 
be  carried  out.  I  felt  compelled  to  refuse 
to  allow  oil  paintings,  large  mirrors,  toy 
drums,  horses,  and  the  like  to  be  taken 
aboard  the  "Emden." 

When  we  happened  to  be  in  a  reflective 
state  of  mind,  we  often  thought  of  our 
pursuers,  —  how  close  to  us  they  were  all 
the  while,  and  yet,  during  their  long  con- 
tinuance at  sea,  compelled  to  live  for  weeks 
on  hardtack  and  corned  beef,  while  beer, 
wine,    cognac,    fresh    eggs,    roast    chicken, 


128  THE  "EMDEN= 


juicy  hams,  chocolate,  bonbons  and  ciga- 
rettes were  only  phantoms  of  the  imagina- 
tion to  them,  seen  in  teasing  dreams,  or 
remembered  as  the  delights  of  their  last 
visit  ashore. 

So  we  spent  the  passing  days,  while 
certain  death  lurked  round  about  us.  In 
sixteen  ships  our  enemies  were  burning 
their  coal,  and  racking  their  brains  in  vain 
attempt  to  catch  us. 

As  there  was  not  a  merchantman  of  the 
enemy  now  abroad,  our  Commander,  as  has 
been  related,  decided  to  give  the  "Emden" 
a  much  needed  overhauling,  especially  to 
clean  the  bottom  of  the  ship.  So  we 
steered  a  southerly  course,  which  took  us 
out  of  the  Bay  of  Bengal,  and,  one  fine 
morning,  our  anchor  rattled  down  into  the 
sea  for  the  first  time  in  many  a  long  day. 
We  were  in  the  harbor  of  Diego  Garcia,  a 
small   island   belonging   to    England,    and 


THE  FLYING  DUTCHMAN  129 

situated  in  the  extreme  southern  part   of 
the  Indian  Ocean. 

Hardly  had  we  anchored  when  the  Eng- 
lish flag  was  joyfully  run  up  on  shore.  A 
boat  with  an  old  Englishman  in  it  put  off 
from  the  island  and  came  toward  us. 
With  his  face  beaming  with  the  pleasure  of 
seeing  some  one  from  the  outside  world, 
he  came  on  board,  bringing  with  him  gifts 
of  fresh  eggs,  vegetables,  etc.  He  gave 
eager  expression  to  the  delight  it  afforded 
him  to  have  the  opportunity,  after  many 
years,  once  more  to  greet  some  of  his  Ger- 
man cousins,  so  dear  to  his  heart,  and  so 
highly  esteemed.  He  assured  us  that 
he  was  always  so  glad  to  see  the  Germans, 
especially  those  that  came  in  their  fine 
war  ships.  He  had  not  seen  one  of  them 
since  1889,  when  the  two  frigates,  the 
"Bismarck"  and  the  "Marie,"  had  run 
into  the  harbor.     That  was  a  long  time 


I30  THE   "EMDEN" 

ago,  he  remarked,  but  for  this  very  reason 
it  made  him  all  the  happier  to  see  us  now, 
and  he  hoped  it  would  not  be  long  before 
another  German  ship  would  anchor  at 
Diego  Garcia. 

At  first  we  were  somewhat  surprised  at 
this  greeting,  although  by  this  time  we 
had  become  accustomed  to  all  kinds  of 
English  eccentricities.  But  soon  we  learned 
from  our  guest  that  Diego  Garcia  receives 
a  mail  only  twice  a  year,  by  way  of  Mauri- 
tius, and  so  the  people  on  the  little  island 
as  yet  knew  nothing  of  the  war.  We 
surely  were  not  disposed  to  acquaint  them 
with  the  horrors  of  existing  conditions. 
Why  should  we.^  And,  moreover,  it  might 
so  happen  that  we  would  come  again  before 
many  days  had  passed. 

However,  when  our  guest  came  on  board 
the  "Emden,"  and,  looking  about  him, 
saw  the  condition  of  this  German  man-of- 


THE  FLYING  DUTCHMAN  131 

war,  he  opened  his  eyes  wide  in  astonish- 
ment. Instead  of  the  usual  white  deck, 
shining  with  cleanHness,  he  beheld  an  ill- 
looking,  oil-stained  flooring,  blackened  by 
coal  dust,  and  furrowed  with  deep  scratches. 
He  saw  that  the  color  of  the  engine  skylight 
was  more  nearly  black  than  gray,  that  the 
railing  was  not  only  broken,  but  entirely 
missing  in  places,  that  only  small  patches 
of  linoleum  were  still  to  be  seen  here  and 
there,  that  thickly  plaited  matting  was 
hung  about  the  guns  as  a  protection  against 
splintering,  that  there  were  many  spots  on 
the  walls  indicating  that  something  was 
gone  that  had  either  stood  or  hung  there, 
and  that  in  the  officers'  mess  there  was  a 
remarkable  scarcity  of  furniture.  When 
he  beheld  all  this,  he  was  blank  with 
astonishment,  and  wanted  to  know  what 
it  all  meant. 
We  tried  to  reassure  him,  however,  by 


132  THE   "EMDEN" 

telling  him  that  we  were  on  a  cruise  around 
the  world,  that  this  made  it  desirable  for 
us  to  dispense  with  everything  that  was 
not  absolutely  necessary,  and  that  we  had 
to  use  every  available  place  for  coal.  In 
addition,  we  treated  him  so  generously 
with  whiskey,  that  presently  he  gave  up 
thinking  at  all.  He  did  not  seem  to  find 
this  a  very  difficult  thing  to  do.  With  an 
effort,  he  managed  to  ask  us  to  do  him  a 
favor,  which  was  that  we  should  repair  his 
motor  boat  for  him,  that  he  had  not  been 
able  to  use  for  the  past  half  year.  This 
we  promised  to  do,  and  we  kept  our  word. 
We  made  the  most  of  the  time  we  spent 
in  this  quiet  and  remote  harbor  to  put  our 
ship  in  as  good  condition  as  possible,  to 
give  her  a  thorough  cleaning,  and  especially 
to  scrape  the  bottom,  and  give  it  a  fresh 
coat  of  paint.  The  latter  could,  of  course, 
be  only  imperfectly  accomplished,  and  was 


THE  FLYING  DUTCHMAN  133 

managed  by  letting  water  enough  into  one 
side  of  the  ship  to  give  it  a  slanting  posi- 
tion. Men  in  small  boats  then  cleaned 
and  painted  as  much  of  the  bottom  as  had 
been  raised  out  of  the  water  in  this  way. 

While  we  lay  in  the  harbor,  we  found 
diversion  in  a  novel  sort  of  hunting.  Look- 
ing down  from  the  deck  one  day,  we  saw 
two  objects  floating  in  the  water  close  by 
the  ship.  At  first  sight  we  took  them  to 
be  bundles  of  dirty  rags  that  had  been 
thrown  overboard.  Suddenly,  however,  we 
saw  that  the  objects  moved,  and  were 
silvery  white  on  the  under  side.  Upon 
closer  inspection  they  turned  out  to  be 
two  enormous  rays.  I  estimated  their 
size  to  be  from  four  to  five  square  meters. 
They  had  great  wide,  shiny  yellow  mouths, 
which  they  opened  to  catch  the  small  fish 
they  were  chasing. 

Rifles  were  quickly  brought  out,  and  we 


134  THE  "EMDEN" 

tried  to  get  a  shot  at  the  creatures.  To  do 
this,  we  had  to  wait  for  the  propitious 
moment  when  they  raised  their  backs 
somewhat  out  of  the  water.  One  of  our 
shots,  fired  at  just  the  right  moment,  hit 
one  of  the  fish  squarely  on  the  back.  Toss- 
ing and  splashing,  it  made  a  leap  from 
twenty  to  thirty  centimeters  high  out  of 
the  water,  all  the  while  flapping  violently 
with  its  broad  fins,  causing  a  commotion 
in  the  water  resembling  that  produced  by 
the  beating  of  the  wings  of  a  large  bird. 

Much  to  our  disappointment,  we  failed 
to  secure  the  fish  however. 

Naturally,  some  of  the  time  we  passed 
in  the  harbor  was  devoted  to  fishing. 
Everywhere  out  of  the  side  windows  dangled 
fish  lines,  and  the  efi^orts  of  the  fishermen 
brought  rich  reward.  The  queerest  speci- 
mens were  pulled  up.  Fish  of  every  color 
were  there,  —  red,  green,  and  blue  ones ; 


THE  FLYING  DUTCHMAN  135 

broad  fish,  and  narrow,  pointed  ones ;  some 
with  eyes  on  their  upper  side,  while  others 
had  them  underneath,  and  still  others 
were  provided  with  long  spines.  They 
were  all  landed  on  deck,  but  were  not 
allowed  to  be  eaten  until  the  ship's  doctor 
had  examined  them  and  pronounced  them 
fit  for  food,  as  we  were  aware  that  certain 
kinds  of  fish  are  poisonous. 

We  saw  sea  snakes  also.  But,  to  our 
regret,  we  failed  to  catch  any.  They  were 
about  two  meters  long,  and  light  green  in 
color.  The  creatures  had  a  peculiar  way 
of  leaping  upward  out  of  the  water,  all  the 
while  whipping  vigorously  back  and  forth 
with  their  tails,  assuming  an  almost  vertical 
position  as  they  moved  rapidly  along  on 
the  surface  of  the  water. 

This  idyl  of  southern  seas  could,  un- 
fortunately, be  of  but  short  duration. 
Soon  the   "Emden"  was  on   her  way  to 


136  THE  "EMDEN" 

new  fields  of  action.  In  the  vicinity  of 
Minikoi  Island  we  captured  a  great  many 
more  prizes,  for,  by  this  time,  shipping 
had  ventured  forth  once  more. 

We  were  especially  pleased  that  the 
British  Admiralty  again  saw  fit  to  send  us 
a  fine  steamer  of  7000  tonnage,  carrying  a 
cargo  of  the  best  Welsh  coal.  But,  before 
long,  no  ships  were  to  be  seen  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Minikoi  Island.  Either  all 
shipping  was  again  being  kept  at  home,  or 
else  a  diff^erent  course  was  being  followed. 
It  behooved  us  therefore  to  discover  the 
route  by  which  the  steamers  were  now 
going. 

First  of  all,  we  searched  the  water  to  the 
north  of  Minikoi  Island.  And  behold, 
in  the  shortest  possible  time  we  came  upon 
an  English  steamer,  whose  captain,  when 
he  was  captured,  exclaimed  in  great  sur- 
prise:  "Tell  me,  how  did  you  learn  of  the 


THE  FLYING  DUTCHMAN  137 

new  and  secret  course  laid  out  for  mer- 
chantmen by  the  Admiralty?"  That  was 
hint  enough  for  us,  and  we  forthwith  looked 
for  more  ships  in  this  region.  And  we  did 
well  to  do  so. 

As  a  result,  we  renewed  our  acquaintance 
with  an  English  lady  whom  we  had  met 
before.  I  noticed  at  once  how  calmly  she 
accepted  her  unusual  situation.  She  went 
about  the  deck  with  great  composure, 
distributing  chocolate  and  cigarettes  among 
our  men.  From  her  conversation  it  soon 
developed  that  she  had  grown  quite  accus- 
tomed to  having  her  plans  interrupted  by 
the  "Emden."  First  of  all,  while  on  her 
way  from  Hong  Kong  to  Europe,  the  ship 
on  which  she  was  travelling  had  turned 
back  while  still  in  the  Yellow  Sea  upon 
learning  that  the  "Emden"  was  near. 
After  that,  the  lady  had  spent  several 
weeks  idly  waiting  in  Hong  Kong.    Then 


138  THE   "EMDEN" 

she  had  managed  to  get  as  far  as  Singapore, 
from  whence  she  had  started  out  afresh, 
and  again  she  had  the  experience  of  having 
her  ship  called  back  to  the  harbor  from 
which  she  had  sailed,  because  it  was  re- 
ported that  the  "Emden"  was  in  the 
neighborhood.  After  a  few  more  weeks 
of  waiting,  this  time  at  Singapore,  she  had 
got  as  far  as  Colombo,  and  on  her  way- 
out  from  there  she  had  met  the  "Emden" 
after  all.  Her  return  trip  to  India  was 
made  on  one  of  our  junkmen. 

To  capture  steamers  at  night  was  no 
easy  task  for  the  "Emden,"  and  always 
made  great  demands  on  our  men.  We 
could  never  be  sure  whether  or  not  it  was 
a  man-of-war  we  were  approaching.  There- 
fore, whenever  we  did  not  know,  beyond 
a  peradventure,  that  it  was  a  merchant- 
man, the  men  were  summoned  to  their 
battle    posts.     Furthermore,    we    had    to 


THE  FLYING  DUTCHMAN  139 

reckon  with  the  possibility  that  the  English 
would  protect  their  merchantmen  by  a 
convoy  of  war  ships.  In  that  case  the 
latter  would  follow  at  a  short  distance 
behind  the  ships  they  were  escorting,  and, 
when  the  "Emden's"  attention  was  fixed 
upon  the  steamer  she  was  raiding,  an 
unexpected  attack  would  be  made  upon 
her. 

On  one  occasion,  we  thought  that  we 
had  surely  run  upon  a  man-of-war.  The 
night  was  black.  Ahead,  and  coming 
toward  us,  we  saw  a  steamer  that  was 
showing  lights,  apparently  a  merchant- 
man. The  "  Emden,"  with  screened  lights, 
of  course,  ran  toward  her  on  a  course  at  an 
angle  with  her  own.  Just  as  we  were  about 
to  turn  on  our  lights,  to  give  chase,  we 
saw  a  large  dark  object  close  behind  the 
steamer.  We  thought  it  might  be  a  man- 
of-war    travelling  without    lights.    As  we 


I40  THE  "EMDEN" 

could  not  make  out  what  it  was,  we  pre- 
pared for  any  event.  So  the  order  was: 
**Both  engines  at  full  speed,  straight  away! 
Torpedoes  ready!    And  at  her!" 

Upon  closer  approach  it  developed  that 
our  fierce  attack  was  being  made  upon 
nothing  more  dangerous  than  a  heavy 
cloud  of  smoke  that  the  steamer  had  just 
belched  forth,  and  which,  owing  to  the 
absence  of  wind,  lay  upon  the  water  in  the 
steamer's  wake. 

Unfortunately,  we  found  it  impossible 
to  avoid  running  upon  neutrals  in  this 
particular  vicinity,  and  these,  after  an 
inspection,  had  to  be  allowed  to  proceed. 
Without  a  single  exception  they  were  Dutch 
ships. 

However,  our  experience  with  them  was 
happier  than  the  one  we  had  had  with  the 
"Loredano."  Not  once  did  we  intercept 
a  wireless   message   in  which   the   Dutch 


THE  FLYING  DUTCHMAN  141 

made  any  allusion  to  the  "Emden."  On 
the  other  hand,  we  ourselves  could  not 
hope  to  get  any  news  of  the  war  from  these 
ships,  as  the  Dutch  government,  in  the 
endeavor  to  preserve  a  strict  neutrality, 
had  forbidden  the  transmission  by  wireless 
of  any  information  with  regard  to  the  war. 
We  caught  up  one  message,  sent  by  an 
English  to  a  Dutch  ship,  asking  for  news 
of  the  war.  The  answer  was:  "We  are 
not  allowed  to  transmit  war  news  of  any 
kind." 

Thus,  within  a  comparatively  small  ex- 
panse of  the  sea,  the  "Emden"  continued 
to  do  her  part  in  the  great  war,  constantly 
pursued  by  sixteen  hostile  war  ships,  and, 
of  course,  compelled  to  remain  close  to  the 
usual  steamship  routes,  as  there  only  could 
we  hope  to  secure  any  prizes. 

That,  in  spite  of  this,  we  managed  to 
elude  our  enemies,  together  with  the  fact 


142  THE  "EMDEN 


that  the  "Emden"  appeared,  Uke  a  will-o- 
the-wisp,  first  in  one  quarter,  and  then  in 
another,  gave  rise  to  the  assumption  by 
the  EngHsh  papers  of  India,  that  there 
were  a  number  of  German  raiders  abroad, 
and  that  they  all  had  adopted  the  name 
**Emden"  as  a  ruse.  Indeed,  in  course 
of  time  we  ceased  to  be  called  the  "  Emden" 
at  all,  and  were  generally  known  as  "the 
flying  Dutchman." 


V 
OUR  BAPTISM  BY  FIRE 


Chapter  V 
OUR  BAPTISM  BT  FIRE 

Again  there  was  a  total  absence  of  mer- 
chantmen, and,  as  the  "Emden"  had  just 
been  put  into  good  condition,  some  new 
and  profitable  service  must  be  found  for 
her.  Her  Commander  had  come  to  the 
conclusion  that,  besides  Colombo  and  Singa- 
pore, the  enemy  must  be  using  still  another 
base  for  taking  on  coal  and  provisions,  and 
for  recuperation.  The  port  which  sug- 
gested itself  as  the  one  most  likely  to  be 
serving  this  purpose  was  Penang.  We 
had  gathered  from  newspaper  reports  that 
the  French  armored  cruisers,  "Montcalm" 
and  "Dupleix,''  frequently  put  into  port 
there.  To  attack  these  or  any  other 
ships  that  might  be  lying  in  the  harbor 


146  THE  "EMDEN' 


was  the  task  which  our  Commander  now 
set  himself. 

On  the  night  from  the  twenty-seventh 
to  the  twenty-eighth  of  October  the  "  Em- 
den"  arrived  at  a  point  just  outside  of 
Penang,  and  was  approaching  the  harbor 
at  full  speed.  It  was  her  Commander's 
intention  to  run  in  as  soon  as  the  day 
dawned.  The  narrow  entrance  to  the 
harbor  offered  too  many  difficulties  to  make 
it  advisable  to  attempt  it  by  night.  More- 
over, it  is  in  the  early  hours  of  the  coming 
day  that  human  weariness  is  most  likely 
to  assert  itself,  and  so  make  the  prospect 
of  success  by  surprise  more  hopeful. 

Aboard  the  "Emden''  all  hands  were 
waked  bright  and  early.  The  ship  was 
cleared  for  action  to  the  utmost,  that  is, 
everything  was  put  in  a  state  of  absolute 
readiness  for  battle.  A  hot  and  hearty 
breakfast  was  served  to  the  men.     Clean 


OUR  BAPTISM  BY  FIRE  147 

underclothing  and  fresh  suits  were  put  on, 
to  lessen,  in  so  far  as  possible,  all  danger 
of  infection  in  case  of  wounds. 

Without  a  light  showing,  nor  a  bit  of 
smoke  escaping,  and  with  every  man  at 
his  post,  the  **Emden"  drew  near  to  the 
enemy's  port.  It  was  just  before  sunrise. 
The  night  was  dark.  But  in  these  southern 
latitudes  the  full  light  of  day  bursts  sud- 
denly upon  the  world  with  the  rising  of  the 
sun.  Here  and  there,  in  the  darkness  of 
the  night,  we  passed  a  lone  fishing  boat 
lying  near  the  entrance  to  the  harbor, 
one  or  two  of  which  we  would  have  run 
down  had  it  not  been  for  the  watchful  eye 
of  the  officer  on  duty,  who  managed  to 
steer  clear  of  them. 

Close  to  the  entrance  of  the  harbor  we 
saw,  to  port  of  us,  a  bright  white  light  that 
appeared  and  disappeared  with  lightning- 
like   rapidity,   remaining   in   sight   only   a 


148  THE   "EMDEN" 

couple  of  seconds  at  a  time.  Beyond  a 
doubt  it  was  an  electric  light,  and  was 
therefore,  apparently,  some  sort  of  outpost 
or  sentinel  vessel.  We  felt  quite  sure  of 
this,  although  we  did  not  catch  sight  of 
the  ship  Itself.  The  fact  that  it  was  here 
indicated  the  presence  of  war  ships  in  the 
harbor. 

On  the  "Emden"  the  fourth  funnel,  which 
had  done  us  good  service  on  many  a  former 
occasion,  had  of  course  again  been  set  up. 

Just  as  our  ship  had  reached  the  inner 
roadstead  of  Penang,  the  first  darting  rays 
of  the  coming  day  flashed  into  the  sky. 
We  had  arrived  at  just  the  right  moment. 
During  the  brief  and  quickly  passing  dusk  of 
dawn  we  discovered  a  large  number  of  ships 
lying  in  the  harbor.  Apparently  they  were 
all  merchantmen.  The  closest  scrutiny 
failed  to  reveal  anything  that  looked  like  a 
man-of-war.     We  were   just  beginning  to 


OUR  BAPTISM  BY  FIRE  149 

think  that  this  time  we  had  made  a  mis- 
take, when  suddenly,  in  the  midst  of  all  the 
merchantmen  that  were  showing  lights,  we 
saw  a  dark  object  on  which  there  was  not 
a  light  to  be  seen.  It  had  every  appearance 
of  being  a  war  ship.  In  a  few  minutes 
we  had  come  close  enough  to  see  that, 
beyond  doubt,  it  was  some  kind  of  war 
craft.  Then  suddenly,  on  this  dark  and 
suspicious  looking  object,  there  appeared 
three  lights  at  equal  distances  from  each 
other.  Our  first  thought  was:  Those  are 
the  stern  lights  of  three  destroyers  that 
are  lying  side  by  side. 

But  soon  we  realized  that  this  could  not 
be  the  case.  The  hull  of  the  vessel  that 
was  now  getting  more  and  more  distinctly 
visible  was  evidently  too  large  to  be  that 
of  a  destroyer.  Unfortunately,  the  ship 
in  which  we  were  so  interested  was  lying 
in  the  current,  which  brought  her  stern 


150  THE  "EMDEN 


pointing  toward  us,  and  we  could  not, 
therefore,  get  a  side  view  of  her.  Not 
until  the  "Emden"  had  approached  to  a 
distance  of  not  more  than  two  hundred 
meters,  had  passed  by  and  taken  a  position 
to  the  one  side  of  her,  did  we  recognize  the 
"Schemstchuk." 

On  board,  peace  and  quiet  reigned. 
All  hands  were  sleeping  strenuously.  We 
crept  so  close  up  to  her  that  even  in  the 
prevailing  dusk  of  the  early  morning  the 
Russian  cruiser  was  easily  recognized.  Not 
an  officer  on  duty,  not  a  watch  on  the  look- 
out, not  a  man  of  the  signal  service  was  to 
be  seen.  We  sent  our  first  torpedo  whizzing 
over  to  her  from  our  starboard  broadside 
tube,  while  at  the  same  time  our  broadside 
poured  shells  into  the  forepart  of  the 
"  Schemtschuk,"  where  the  crew  was  sleep- 
ing. Our  torpedo  hit  the  enemy's  cruiser 
aft.     The  jar  which  shook  the  ship  as  our 


OUR  BAPTISM  BY  FIRE  151 

torpedo  struck  was  plainly  visible.  There 
was  a  slight  upward  movement  of  the  after 
part  of  the  ship,  —  from  about  a  quarter 
to  a  half  meter  high,  —  and  then  the  stern 
slowly  settled. 

Now  matters  began  to  look  lively  on  the 
Russian.  The  doors  leading  on  to  the 
deck  from  the  officers'  rooms  were  torn 
open.  A  large  number  of  the  officers  came 
running  out,  but  did  not  seem  to  have  a 
very  definite  idea  of  where  their  battle 
stations  were,  for,  without  any  further 
ado,  most  of  them  ran  as  far  aft  as  the 
flagstaff,  and  then  promptly  jumped  over- 
board. They  were  followed  by  a  whole 
company  of  sailors,  —  evidently  the  sort 
of  fellows  who  do  not  hesitate  to  go  through 
thick  and  thin  with  their  masters.  Mean- 
while our  rapid  gun  fire,  delivered  at  close 
range,  was  doing  devastating  work  on  the 
"Schemtschuk." 


152  THE  "EMDEN" 

At  a  distance  of  four  hundred  meters, 
and  very  slowly,  the  "Emden'*  passed  by 
the  hostile  cruiser  from  stern  to  bow, 
pouring  broadsides  into  her  all  the  while. 
Before  many  minutes  had  passed  the 
fore  part  of  the  ship  looked  like  a  sieve. 
Smouldering  fires  were  eating  their  way 
through  the  interior  of  the  ship.  Great 
holes  in  both  sides  of  the  hull  made  it 
possible  to  look  clean  through  the  ship. 
Clap  upon  clap  the  shells  struck.  When 
they  hit,  there  was  a  bright,  sharp  flash. 
Then,  for  the  space  of  a  few  seconds,  fiery 
rings  seemed  to  be  rapidly  circling  around 
the  spot  where  the  shell  had  struck,  until, 
almost  immediately  afterward,  masses  of 
black  smoke  from  the  interior  burst  forth 
through  the  great  holes  in  the  sides  of  the 
doomed  ship.  We  did  not  see  a  man 
leave  the  fore  part  of  the  "  Schemtschuk." 

Meanwhile,    the    "Emden"    was    being 


OUR  BAPTISM  BY  FIRE  153 

fired  upon  from  three  sides.  Where  the 
shots  came  from,  we  did  not  know.  We 
could  only  hear  the  whistling  of  the  shells, 
and  see  them  fall  on  the  merchantmen 
that  lay  on  every  side  of  us.  The  "Schem- 
tschuk"  now  also  took  a  hand  in  the  game, 
and  began  to  fire  at  us.  As  her  guns  were 
of  greater  caliber  than  our  own,  their 
shells,  if  they  had  struck  the  "Emden," 
would  have  proved  disastrous  to  her.  Even 
had  our  ship  not  been  disabled,  the  dam- 
age sustained  would  in  all  probability  have 
been  sufficient  to  make  it  impossible  for 
us  to  continue  our  present  activity,  as 
the  "Emden"  had  no  port  of  refuge  where 
she  could  make  repairs.  Our  Commander 
therefore  gave  orders  to  fire  another 
torpedo. 

In  the  meantime  the  "Emden*'  had 
passed  beyond  the  "Schemtschuk,"  had 
turned  hard  about  to  port,  and  was  passing 


154  THE   "EMDEN" 


by  her  opponent  for  the  second  time. 
When  the  distance  between  the  two  ships 
had  been  reduced  to  four  hundred  meters, 
our  second  torpedo  went  flying  over  to  the 
"Schemtschuk."  It  had  grown  so  light  in 
the  meantime  that  we  could  plainly  see 
the  whirling  course  of  the  missile  as  it  sped 
on  its  way.  In  a  few  seconds  there  was  a 
terrible  explosion  on  the  Russian  cruiser, 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  pilot  bridge.  A  great 
thick  cloud  of  black  smoke,  mixed  with 
grey,  and  shot  through  with  white  steam 
and  spray,  rose  to  a  height  of  one  hundred 
and  fifty  meters,  or  more.  Loose  parts  of 
the  ship  went  flying  up  into  the  air.  We 
could  see  the  cruiser  break  apart  in  the 
middle,  while  bow  and  stern  dipped  into 
the  water  at  the  same  time.  Then  the 
cloud  raised  by  the  explosion  hid  every- 
thing from  sight,  and  when,  in  about  ten 
or  fifteen  seconds,  it  had  cleared  away,  there 


OUR  BAPTISM  BY  FIRE  155 

was  nothing  to  be  seen  of  the  cruiser  except 
the  truck  of  the  mast  head  protruding  out 
of  the  water. 

Quantities  of  debris,  and  many  men 
swimming  about  in  the  water  marked  the 
spot  where  the  ship  had  disappeared.  It 
was  not  necessary  that  we,  of  the  "  Emden," 
should  rescue  the  survivors  of  the  "  Schem- 
tschuk,"  as  there  were  numbers  of  fishing 
boats  near,  which  immediately  went  to 
their  assistance. 

All  shooting  had  ceased  by  this  time. 
Our  other  two  antagonists  that,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  "Schemtschuk,"  had  fired  upon 
us,  had  also  discontinued  their  fire.  More- 
over, we  did  not  know  just  where  the  shots 
had  come  from. 

Suddenly,  lying  at  anchor  among  the 
merchantmen,  and  half  hidden  from  our 
view  by  them,  we  discovered  the  French 
gunboat  "D'Iberville."     It  must  have  been 


iS6  THE  "EMDEN= 


from  her  that  some  of  the  shots  fired  at  us 
had  come.  Our  Commander  had  just  or- 
dered the  "Emden"  to  turn  to  port,  and, 
passing  by  the  wreck  of  the  "Schemtschuk," 
to  go  to  the  attack  of  the  "  D'Iberville," 
when  the  lookout  at  the  mast  head  reported 
a  hostile  destroyer  running  into  the  har- 
bor from  out  at  sea.  This  was  an  enemy  it 
would  not  be  safe  for  us  to  meet  here  in 
the  narrow  entrance  to  the  harbor,  as  it 
would  be  quite  impossible  for  us  to  execute 
any  manoeuvre  by  which  we  could  avoid 
the  torpedoes  that  would  be  fired  at  us. 
Our  Commander  decided  therefore  to  run 
out  toward  the  destroyer  at  the  top  notch 
of  our  speed,  so  as  to  meet  her  in  the  broader 
expanse  of  the  outer  harbor.  We  saw  the 
ship  very  plainly  as  we  approached  each 
other.  There  was  the  high,  pointed  fore- 
castle with  the  low,  wide  funnel  behind  it, 
and  a  course  at  high  speed  directly  toward 


OUR  BAPTISM  BY  FIRE  157 

US,  —  the  typical  appearance  of  one  of 
the  large  English  destroyers. 

At  a  distance  of  4000  meters  our  first 
shot  went  whizzing  over  to  her.  All  around 
her  we  could  see  high  columns  of  water 
raised  by  the  shells  as  they  struck  the  sea. 
Hereupon,  the  vessel  quickly  turned  hard 
about  to  starboard.  It  was  then  that  we 
discovered  that  she  was  only  an  English 
government  steamer  of  medium  size.  It 
was  due  to  the  refraction  of  the  rays  of 
light  which  is  so  common  in  tropical  regions, 
and  especially  at  sunrise,  that  the  ship's 
outlines  had  been  so  distorted  as  to  lend 
her  the  appearance  of  a  destroyer.  We 
ceased  firing. 

But  again,  just  as  we  were  about  to 
turn  and  get  after  the  "D'Iberville"  for 
the  second  time,  there  came  a  report  from 
the  lookout  announcing  that  another  large 
ship   had   been   sighted    running   into   the 


158  THE  "EMDEN" 

harbor.  While  we  were  still  at  a  great 
distance  from  her,  it  was  plainly  to  be 
seen  that  this  time  we  were  dealing  with 
a  merchantman.  Our  Commander  deter- 
mined first  of  all  to  make  sure  of  this  lat- 
est arrival.  The  "DTberville"  could  not 
get  away.  Our  cutter  was  rushed  down  to 
the  water.  We  gave  the  steamer  the 
usual  signal:  "Stop!  We  are  sending  a 
boat."  But  hardly  had  our  cutter  arrived 
alongside  the  ship  when  again  a  war  vessel 
of  some  kind  was  seen  approaching  through 
the  entrance  of  the  harbor.  So  the  cutter 
was  quickly  recalled  and  hoisted  aboard, 
and  then  we  drove  toward  this  latest 
comer. 

The  illusions  due  to  refraction  were  most 
unusual  on  this  morning.  Every  few  min- 
utes the  outlines  of  the  approaching  ship 
seemed  to  change.  At  first  she  appeared 
to    be    a    large    black    ship    with    funnels 


OUR  BAPTISM  BY  FIRE  159 

fore  and  aft.  Beyond  a  doubt,  therefore, 
this  must  be  a  man-of-war.  Then  sud- 
denly her  dimensions  shrank  together. 
Half  of  the  funnels  we  had  seen,  disappeared 
altogether,  and  she  now  looked  like  a 
merchantman,  painted  gray,  and  with  black 
bands  around  the  funnels.  Only  a  few 
minutes  later  the  vessel  had  changed  her 
appearance  again.  She  had  grown  smaller, 
was  black,  and  had  two  funnels.  From 
this  we  concluded  that  she  must  surely 
be  a  French  torpedo  boat  destroyer.  So, 
at  her  at  once ! 

The  "Emden"  was  not  flying  her  flag 
at  the  time,  nor  was  the  ship  that  was 
approaching  showing  her  colors.  When 
about  6000  meters  distant  from  us,  she 
ran  up  the  tri-color.  A  Frenchman,  there- 
fore! She  was  coming  at  us  at  right 
angles  to  our  course,  and  apparently  did 
not  know  just  what  to  make  of  us.     By 


i6o  THE  "EMDEN" 

what  the  Frenchman's  attitude  was  de- 
termined is  a  mystery  to  me.  Our  shots 
and  the  detonation  of  the  bursting  torpe- 
does must  have  been  heard  afar,  and  one 
would  suppose  that  any  cruiser  leaving  the 
harbor  immediately  afterward  would  have 
been  viewed  with  suspicion,  to  say  the 
least.  Nevertheless,  the  ship  kept  on  her 
course  toward  us.  When  we  had  reached 
the  4000  meter  range  for  our  shots,  up 
went  our  battle  flags.  The  "Emden" 
turned  easily  to  port,  presented  her  broad- 
side to  the  enemy,  and  our  first  shot  went 
humming  over  to  her. 

Now  the  Frenchman  realized  who  we 
were.  She  turned  hard  about  to  port, 
put  on  all  steam,  and  tried  to  run  away 
from  us.  It  was  too  late.  The  "  Emden's  " 
third  salvo  had  lodged  five  shells  astern  in 
her  opponent.  A  detonation  followed,  ap- 
parently an  explosion  of  ammunition;  then 


OUR  BAPTISM  BY  FIRE  i6i 

a  great  cloud  of  black  coal  dust,  mingled 
with  white  steam,  shrouded  the  whole 
stern  end  of  the  fleeing  ship.  It  must  be 
conceded  that,  in  spite  of  the  hopelessness 
of  their  position,  the  Frenchmen  set  vigor- 
ously to  work  to  defend  their  ship.  They 
shot  two  torpedoes  at  the  "Emden,"  and 
the  forward  guns  of  the  destroyer  opened 
fire  upon  us.  The  torpedoes  failed  of  their 
mark,  however,  for  the  **Emden"  main- 
tained a  distance  beyond  the  range  of  a 
torpedo.  They  dropped  into  the  water 
about  900  meters  off  from  our  starboard 
side.  Nor  did  the  Frenchman's  guns  con- 
tinue their  fire  long,  for  soon  they  were 
silenced  by  the  hail  of  shells  we  fired 
into  the  destroyer.  Mast,  funnel,  forward 
tower,  superstructure,  ventilators,  —  every- 
thing on  the  Frenchman  was  shot  away. 
In  a  few  minutes  more  the  ship  had  sunk. 
It  was  the  French  destroyer,  "Mousquet." 


i62  THE  "EMDEN" 

The  "Emden"  now  steered  for  the  spot 
where  her  foe  had  disappeared  in  the  sea. 
Both  cutters  were  lowered  for  the  purpose 
of  picking  up  the  survivors  who  had  come 
to  the  surface  of  the  water.  They  were 
floating  about,  clinging  to  drifting  spars, 
or  kept  afloat  by  life-preservers,  and  were 
scattered  along  a  considerable  distance,  — 
an  evidence  that  some  of  the  men  must 
have  jumped  overboard  at  the  very  be- 
ginning of  the  engagement.  The  "Em- 
den's"  cutters  were  provided  with  dressing 
for  wounds,  in  so  far  as  this  was  possible, 
and  carried  the  ship's  doctors. 

As  our  cutters  approached  the  French- 
men, who  were  swimming  all  about  us,  a 
strange  thing  happened.  Instead  of  striv- 
ing to  reach  our  boats,  they  made  every 
effort  to  get  away  from  us.  Yet  the  dis- 
tance to  the  nearest  shore  was  so  great 
that    the    swimmers    could    not    hope    to 


OUR  BAPTISM  BY  FIRE  163 

reach  it  through  their  own  efforts.  The 
reason  why  they  sought  to  get  away  from 
our  boats  was  not  revealed  to  us  until 
later.  We  picked  up  thirty-three  French- 
men, some  of  them  wounded,  and  one 
wounded  officer.  Thanks  to  the  precau- 
tion we  had  taken  in  sending  doctors  out 
with  the  cutters,  two-thirds  of  the  wounded 
arrived  on  board  our  ship  resting  in  trans- 
port hammocks,  with  their  wounds  dressed, 
and  their  limbs  in  splints,  where  these  were 
necessary. 

In  the  meantime  a  second  French  tor- 
pedo boat  was  seen  steaming  out  of  the 
harbor  and  heading  for  us.  For  the  "  Em- 
den"  it  was  now  high  time  to  be  gone. 
In  all  probability  there  were  more  French 
and  English  warships  in  the  neighborhood. 
An  encounter  by  daylight  with  a  superior 
force  of  the  enemy  must  be  avoided  by  the 
"Emden,"   dependent,   as  she  was,   upon 


i64  THE   "EMDEN 


herself  alone.  So  we  headed  for  the  open 
sea,  and  kept  a  westward  course  at  high 
speed.  The  French  torpedo  boat  chaser 
followed  us  for  a  while,  but  ran  into  a 
squall  of  rain,  in  which  she  disappeared, 
and  was  not  seen  again.  Thus  our  purpose 
to  entice  the  Frenchman  out  to  sea,  and 
then  turn  and  destroy  her,  came  to  nought. 
Our  French  prisoners,  both  the  wounded 
and  the  well,  were  comfortably  provided 
for  on  the  "Emden."  All  who  were  suf- 
fering from  injuries  found  rest  and  care 
in  the  ship's  hospital.  For  those  who  had 
escaped  injury  an  ample  and  firmly  con- 
structed shelter  house,  built  of  boards  and 
sail-cloth,  'was  put  up  on  the  starboard  side 
of  the  middle  deck,  near  the  engine  skylight. 
In  our  crew  were  two  sailors  who  spoke 
French  fluently.  These  two  men  were 
now  excused  from  all  other  duty,  and  acted 
as   interpreters    for   the   wounded    in   the 


OUR  BAPTISM  BY  FIRE  165 

hospital,  and  for  the  other  Frenchmen  as 
well.  Benches  and  tables  for  the  use  of 
our  prisoners  were  quickly  put  together. 
The  Frenchmen,  most  of  whom  had  no 
suits  on  when  they  came  aboard  the  "Em- 
den,"  were  not  only  willingly,  but  cheerfully 
provided  with  clothing  by  our  men,  although 
their  own  supply  was  getting  very  low. 
The  prisoners  received  plenty  to  eat  and 
to  drink,  and  were  provided  with  something 
to  smoke.  In  their  liberty  of  action  they 
were  as  little  constrained  as  possible. 

When  I  asked  some  of  the  Frenchmen 
why  they  had  swum  away  from  our  cutters 
that  were  out  to  rescue  them,  they  replied: 
"The  reports  in  our  newspapers  have 
always  been  that  the  Germans  massacre 
all  prisoners,  and  our  officers  confirmed 
these  statements.  We  preferred  drowning 
to  being  butchered." 

When,  in  further  conversation,  we  asked 


i66  THE  "EMDEN" 


why  they  had  allowed  the  "Emden"  to 
get  away  on  the  night  we  ran  out  of  the 
harbor  of  Penang,  their  answer  was  that 
although  they  had  seen  the  "Emden" 
very  well,  they  had  taken  her  to  be  the 
English  cruiser  "Yarmouth,"  and  so  had 
allowed  her  to  go  on  her  way  undisturbed. 
It  is  most  likely,  therefore,  that  the  white 
light  we  saw  on  the  night  at  Penang  was 
this  French  torpedo  boat  destroyer.  The 
Frenchmen  also  told  us  that  their  com- 
mander had  both  his  legs  shot  off  by  one 
of  our  shells;  that  he  might  have  been 
saved,  but  refused,  and,  tying  himself 
fast  to  the  bridge,  went  down  with  his 
ship.  He  did  not  want  to  survive  the 
shame  of  seeing  some  of  his  men  jump 
overboard  in  an  effort  to  save  themselves 
at  the  very  beginning  of  the  fight.  Hats 
off  to  such  an  officer! 

Among  the  wounded  were  three  whose 


OUR  BAPTISM  BY  FIRE  167 

injuries  were  of  so  severe  a  nature  that 
nothing  could  be  done  to  save  them.  Of 
these,  one  died  on  the  first  evening  after 
the  fight,  and  the  other  two  on  the  following 
day. 

According  to  the  custom  among  sailors, 
the  body  of  the  first  one  of  these  prisoners 
to  die  was  sewed  up  in  sail-cloth  and 
weighted  at  the  feet.  It  was  then  carried 
to  the  starboard  deck  aft,  placed  on  a  bier, 
and  draped  with  the  French  war  flag. 
A  guard  kept  watch  beside  the  bier  through- 
out the  night.  The  services  for  the  dead 
took  place  on  the  following  morning.  At 
these  ceremonies  a  company  of  the  "Em- 
den's"  men,  dressed  in  their  parade  suits, 
was  present.  All  the  unwounded  French- 
men also  were  allowed  to  participate.  A 
guard  of  honor,  carrying  arms,  and  in 
command  of  an  officer,  was  stationed  at 
the    bier.     All    the    German    officers,    in 


i68  THE   "EMDEN" 

uniform  and  wearing  their  decorations 
of  honor,  were  in  attendance.  Our  Com- 
mander gave  a  brief  address  in  French; 
in  it  he  paid  tribute  to  the  dead  as  having 
given  his  life  for  his  country,  by  which  he 
had  earned  the  honor  and  respect  of  friend 
and  foe  alike.  The  service  ended  with  a 
prayer  rendered  in  accord  with  the  dead 
man's  religious  belief,  and  read  from  a 
Catholic  prayer  book.  Wrapped  in  the 
French  flag,  the  dead  was  then  committed 
to  the  sea  from  the  stern  gangway  ladder. 
The  ship's  engine  was  stopped  for  the 
occasion,  and  the  guard  of  honor  fired 
three  volleys  with  due  ceremony  over  the 
Frenchman's  last  resting  place.  The  "  Em- 
den's"  oflScers  stood  at  salute  beside  the 
gangway  ladder.  Like  solemn  ceremonies 
took  place  on  the  following  day  when  the 
other  two  Frenchmen,  who  had  died,  were 
consigned  to  their  watery  grave. 


OUR  BAPTISM  BY  FIRE  169 

Within  a  few  days  our  French  prisoners 
were  all  transferred  to  an  English  steamer 
that  was  carrying  a  neutral  cargo,  the 
destruction  of  which  would  have  been  to 
no  purpose.  When  they  were  told  that 
they  were  going  to  be  sent  off,  the  two 
senior  noncommissioned  officers  among 
them  asked  to  be  allowed  to  speak  to  the 
"Emden's"  Commander.  To  him  they  ex- 
pressed their  gratitude,  as  well  as  that 
of  their  comrades,  for  the  kind  and  humane 
treatment  and  comfortable  shelter  they 
had  received  aboard  our  ship.  To  this 
they  added  that  they  now  knew  that  what 
their  newspapers  had  said  of  the  Germans 
was  all  lies,  and  that  on  their  return  to 
their  native  land  they  would  do  all  in  their 
power  to  make  the  truth  known.  The  two 
officers  expressed  like  sentiments  to  me. 

Before  leaving  us,  the  French  officer 
who  was  so  seriously  wounded  asked  for 


I70  THE  "EMDEN" 

an  "Emden"  cap  band,  saying  that  he 
wanted  very  much  to  have  a  memento  of 
the  ship  whose  officers  and  crew  had  treated 
a  vanquished  foe  with  so  much  chivalry, 
and  the  wounded  with  so  much  kindliness. 

Quantities  of  the  **Emden's"  surgeon's 
supplies  were  sent  over  to  the  steamer, 
to  be  used  in  dressing  the  wounds  of  the 
injured  Frenchmen.  The  captain  of  the 
steamer  was  then  directed  on  his  way  to 
Sabang,  where  he  was  advised  to  take  the 
wounded,  as  the  nearest  hospital  was  to 
be  found  there.  To  our  regret  we  learned 
from  the  newspapers,  some  time  afterward, 
that  the  wounded  officer  had  died  there. 

The  English  gave  the  most  absurd  ac- 
count of  this  fight  at  Penang.  They  stated 
that  only  by  flying  the  English  flag  had 
the  '^Emden"  succeeded  in  getting  into  the 
harbor  unrecognized,  and  further,  that  she 
had   entered  the  harbor  from  the  south. 


OUR  BAPTISM  BY  FIRE  171 

and  had  left  it  by  the  north  passage. 
These  are  all  inventions,  and  are  utterly 
false.  In  the  first  place,  at  no  time  did 
the  "Emdcn"  ever  fly  the  English  flag, 
nor  would  it  have  been  to  any  purpose  to 
have  done  so  in  this  instance,  for  we  ran 
into  the  harbor  at  night.  Furthermore, 
the  south  entrance  to  Penang  harbor  is 
too  shallow  to  allow  the  "Emden"  to  pass 
through  it  at  any  time. 

The  only  words  of  the  English  report 
which  I  can  confirm  are  those  of  com- 
mendation for  our  Commander,  with  which 
it  concludes  the  description  of  the  sinking 
of  the  "  Mousquet,"  and  the  rescue  of  the 
survivors.  The  words  are  these:  —  "Here 
we  have  another  instance  of  that  chivalry 
which  the  'Emden's'  Commander  has  so 
often  shown  in  his  meteor-like  career  during 
this  war.  Every  minute  was  of  incalculable 
importance   to   him,    as    at    any   moment 


172  THE  "EMDEN" 

Other  French  torpedo  boats  might  have 
come  out  to  attack  him.  But,  with  no 
thought  of  the  danger  he  was  incurring, 
he  stopped  his  ship  and  sent  boats  out  to 
pick  up  the  survivors  of  the  'Mousquet,' 
before  proceeding  on  his  way.  As  the 
saying  goes,  *He  played  the  game.'" 

In  addition,  I  wish  to  express  my  agree- 
ment with  the  following  words  of  the 
report:  "So  ended  the  battle  that  will  live 
in  history  as  evidence  that  two  ships  of 
about  equal  fighting  strength  can  engage 
each  other  at  shortest  range  imaginable 
without  the  inevitable  destruction  of  both. 
An  incident  such  as  that  which  occurred 
yesterday  has  been  declared  by  most  naval 
authorities  to  be  impossible,  or  at  least 
suicidal." 

The  man  who  made  the  report  evidently 
had  little  acquaintance  with  men  such  as 
the  "Emden's"  Commander. 


VI 

OUR  DAILY  BREAD 


Chapter  VI 
OUR  DAILY  BREAD 

How  to  provide  our  ship  with  coal  was 
a  question  of  vital  importance  to  us.  On 
our  course  from  Tsingtao  southward  and 
into  the  Indian  Ocean  we  were  attended 
by  our  faithful  companion,  the  coal  ten- 
der "  Markomannia."  But  her  supply  had 
nearly  come  to  an  end  when  we  arrived  in 
the  Indian  Ocean.  There  was  no  harbor 
to  which  we  could  go  for  coal.  So  we  had 
to  earn  "our  daily  bread.'' 

To  be  sure,  we  had  been  so  fortunate  as 
to  capture,  for  our  first  prize,  the  coal 
steamer  "  Pontoporros,"  which  had  aboard 
several  thousand  tons  of  coal  for  us.  But, 
as  has  been  said,  this  coal  was  of  so  inferior 
a  quality  that  it  could  be  of  use  to  us  only 
in  case  of  extreme  need.    We  did  burn  the 


176  THE  "EMDEN" 

"  Pontoporros's "  coal  for  a  short  time, 
but,  whenever  we  did  so,  a  tall,  telltale 
column  of  black  smoke  rose  above  our 
ship;  the  fire  kettles  became  clogged,  and 
lost  in  capacity;  the  entire  deck  was 
always  covered  with  a  layer  of  fine  bits 
of  coal  and  cinders;  through  every  crack 
and  every  window  penetrated  the  smeary 
black  coal  dust.  In  short,  every  man  of 
us  longed  for  better  fuel  to  burn.  Our  joy 
at  capturing  a  cargo  of  several  thousand  tons 
of  first-class  Welsh  coal  was  greater  than  if 
it  had  been  a  steamer  laden  with  gold. 

The  "Emden"  coaled  very  frequently. 
For  the  event  of  an  engagement  with  the 
enemy  it  was  necessary  always  to  have  a 
large  quantity  of  coal  on  hand.  At  no 
time,  therefore,  could  we  allow  our  store 
of  fuel  to  fall  below  a  certain  minimum. 
Consequently,  the  taking  on  of  coal  was 
as  essential  to  us  as  was  our  daily  bread. 


OUR  DAILY  BREAD  177 

For  the  crew,  it  was  neither  an  easy  nor 
a  pleasant  job,  —  this  constant  filling  up 
with  coal.  The  heat  of  the  tropical  climate 
was  intense.  This  was  most  noticeable  in 
the  bunkers,  where  the  coal  had  to  be 
trimmed,  and  where  the  temperature  often 
rose  to  a  point  that  was  almost  unendurable. 
To  be  sure,  while  employed  at  coaling,  the 
men  wore  hardly  any  clothing  at  all. 
Their  "little  coaling  packs,"  as  they  dubbed 
them,  which  consisted  of  an  old  and  other- 
wise useless  suit  of  clothes,  fit  only  for  the 
work  of  taking  on  coal,  had  suffered  severely 
in  the  continuous  use  to  which  they  had 
been  put  in  this  feverlasting  coaling.  We 
could  not  afford  to  sacrifice  any  of  the 
better  suits  of  clothes  to  this  dirty  work. 
So  the  trousers  that  had  originally  been 
long  ones  soon  became  ragged  below  the 
knees,  and  were  shortened  to  knee  pants. 
After  a  while  these  were  reduced  to  the 


178  THE  "EMDEN" 

length  of  bathing  trousers,  and  still  later  — 
but  the  less  said  of  them  in  this  stage  of 
their  existence,  the  better.  Moreover,  a 
thick  coat  of  coal  dust  took  the  place  of 
anything  else  that  may  have  been  lacking. 

We  had  to  coal  at  sea.  Now,  in  the 
Indian  Ocean  there  is  always  a  rather 
heavy  swell,  by  which  ships  are  kept  in 
constant  motion.  There  were  times,  there- 
fore, when  we  ran  considerable  risk  in  tak- 
ing on  coal. 

To  protect  a  ship  when  going  alongside  of 
another,  fenders  are  used.  They  are  either 
large  mats,  or  balls  made  of  cordage  or  of 
reedwork,  and  are  placed  so  as  to  prevent 
the  two  ships  from  grinding,  or  being 
damaged  by  the  impact.  The  fenders  we 
carried  with  us  were  soon  worn  to  shreds 
by  the  lively  antics  that  the  "Emden" 
and  her  coaling  steamer  usually  carried  on. 
It  soon   became    evident,  also,  that    they 


OUR  DAILY  BREAD  179 

were  by  no  means  large  enough  to  insure 
protection  during  the  strenuous  business 
of  coaling  at  sea.  It  behooved  us,  there- 
fore, to  get  to  work  at  making  new  ones. 

Before  we  left  Tsingtao  I  had  taken  the 
precaution  to  purchase  one  hundred  and 
fifty  hammocks.  My  original  intention 
was  to  make  use  of  them  in  case  of  leakage. 
Hammocks  can  be  very  effectively  used, 
when  a  ship  has  suffered  damage  below  the 
water  line,  by  stuffing  them  into  the  leak, 
whereby  the  amount  of  water  that  forces 
its  way  in  is  lessened. 

These  hammocks  now  stood  us  in  good 
stead.  We  constructed  large  and  long 
fenders  out  of  logs,  from  four  to  six  meters 
in  length,  by  covering  them  with  a  thick 
layer  of  hammocks.  When  needed,  these 
fenders  were  hung  along  the  sides  of  the 
ship.  To  be  sure,  they  were  always  much 
the  worse  for  wear  when  we  were  through 


i8o  THE   "EMDEN" 

with  the  coaling,  but  before  they  were 
needed  again,  we  could  make  new  ones. 

We  had  still  another  novel  sort  of  fender, 
the  like  of  which,  I  dare  say,  had  never 
before  been  used.  On  one  of  the  steamers 
we  had  captured,  we  found  a  large  number 
of  automobile  tires.  Everywhere  along 
the  sides  of  the  ship  we  hung  these  elastic 
rings,  and  they  made  most  excellent 
buffers. 

The  task  of  coaling  at  sea  was  necessarily 
a  long  and  tedious  process.  Oftentimes 
the  two  ships  that  had  been  lashed  to- 
gether rolled  badly.  In  that  case,  when 
the  bags  of  coal  on  the  coaling  steamer  had 
been  hoisted  up  on  the  boom,  the  favorable 
moment  had  to  be  awaited  when  the  two 
ships  rolled  against  each  other;  then  the 
braces  were  quickly  eased,  and  the  coal 
went  plunging  down  somewhere  on  to  the 
**Emden's"  deck.     It  then  behooved  the 


OUR  DAILY  BREAD  i8i 

men  to  jump  away  from  the  coiling  as 
nimbly  as  possible,  and  get  out  from 
under. 

That  the  constant  grinding  of  the  ships 
against  each  other,  and  the  continuous 
plunging  of  the  heavy  bags  of  coal  down 
upon  the  "Emden's"  deck  resulted  in  all 
manner  of  damage  to  the  ship,  can  be 
readily  imagined.  The  "Emden"  carried 
a  gun  in  each  one  of  her  "  swallow's  nests  " 
(side  structures),  fore  and  aft.  Now,  when 
the  ships  rolled  against  each  other,  the  for- 
ward "swallow's  nest "  was  always  in  immi- 
nent peril,  and  was  on  several  occasions 
severely  damaged.  The  chief  sighting 
mechanism  of  a  cannon  is  always  placed 
on  its  left-hand  side.  Therefore,  by  coaling 
on  the  starboard  side  of  the  ship  the  possi- 
bility of  damaging  this  chief  sight  was 
avoided.  And  indeed  the  auxiliary  sight- 
ing mechanism,  which  is  on  the  right-hand 


i82  THE  "EMDEN 


side  of  the  gun,  was  crushed  in  before 
many  days  of  coaHng  had  passed.  The 
doors  of  the  "  swallow's  nest ''  had  given 
way  on  one  occasion  when  the  coaling 
steamer  had  lurched  against  the  "  Emden/' 
and,  being  forced  inward,  had  struck 
against  the  gun. 

The  bags  of  coal  often  caught  in  the 
railing.  Ere  long  there  was  not  an  un- 
damaged railing  post  on  the  entire  starboard 
side.  The  linoleum  deck  also  suffered 
greatly.  Soon  it  was  worn  through.  There 
were  large  holes  in  it,  which  laid  bare  the 
polished  steel  deck  beneath.  This,  in  itself, 
was  of  little  consequence,  but  the  places 
where  the  steel  was  exposed  were  so  smooth 
that,  especially  at  night,  and  when  the 
ship  rolled  badly,  the  men  often  slipped  on 
it,  and  fell.  For  this  reason,  as  soon  as 
we  had  finished  coaling,  men  were  set  to 
work  at  roughening  the  steel  surface  wher- 


OUR  DAILY  BREAD  183 

ever  it  was  exposed.  To  this  end  we  used 
chisels,  with  which  we  cut  narrow  grooves 
into  the  steel,  thereby  giving  the  men  a 
firmer  hold  for  their  feet.  Somewhat  later, 
after  one  of  the  English  steamers  had 
provided  us  with  a  large  quantity  of  tar 
and  some  very  strong  sail-cloth,  we  covered 
the  deck  with  this. 

For  the  "Emden,"  as  has  been  said,  it 
was  absolutely  essential  that  she  should  be 
well  provided  with  coal.  For  this  reason 
we  not  only  packed  the  bunkers  to  their 
full  capacity,  but  stored  quantities  of  coal 
on  deck.  Forward  on  the  forecastle,  in 
the  middle  near  the  engine  skylight,  and 
aft  on  the  poop,  great  heaps  of  coal  were 
piled.  Naturally,  this  greatly  interfered 
with  the  passage  way  from  one  part  of  the 
deck  to  another.  Oftentimes,  while  moving 
about  on  deck,  we  had  to  wind  our  way  in 
and  out  between  piles  of  coal  that  rose  to 


i84  THE   "EMDEN" 


a  man's  height.  Occasionally,  when  the 
ship  rolled  heavily,  the  coal  would  slide, 
whereby  the  deck  would  be  rendered  im- 
passable for  a  time. 

Coal  dust  and  dirt  were  everywhere. 
So  long  as  there  was  any  coal  still  stored 
somewhere  on  deck,  the  first  duty  of  the 
morning,  as  soon  as  all  hands  were  up, 
was  to  move  some  of  this  coal  from  the 
deck  into  the  bunkers,  to  replace  that 
which  had  been  consumed  during  the  last 
twenty-four  hours.  The  wood  of  the  deck 
suffered  severely  from  this  constant  drag- 
ging of  heavy  sacks  of  coal  over  it.  Deep 
black  furrows  were  worn  into  it.  There 
were  oil  spots  to  be  seen  everywhere. 
That  the  paint  on  every  part  of  the  ship 
grew  dirty  and  grimy  needs  not  to  be 
mentioned.  No  one,  seeing  the  "Emden" 
as  she  now  looked,  would  have  recognized 
in  her  the  trim  ship  that,  on  account  of  an 


OUR  DAILY  BREAD  185 

always  scrupulously  correct  appearance, 
was  called  the  "Swan  of  the  East." 

Our  antagonists  have  always  held  that 
coaling  at  sea  is  not  feasible  under  any 
circumstances.  In  coming  to  this  conclu- 
sion they  probably  gauged  the  difficulties 
of  the  undertaking  by  the  capability  of 
their  own  crews.  We  found  that  the 
enemy  was  always  looking  for  us  in  every 
quiet  bay  and  hidden  nook  that  could 
suggest  itself  in  connection  with  coaling, 
in  the  supposition  that,  sooner  or  later 
we  would  have  to  run  into  one  of  these 
places.  Instead  of  doing  so,  however,  we 
always  coaled  at  sea. 

Even  yet  I  am  amused  as  I  recall  the 
amazed  and  questioning  expression  on  the 
face  of  the  English  captain  of  our  prize, 
the  "Buresk"  (he  had  accepted  service 
with  us,  as  will  be  remembered)  when  one 
day,  while  there  was  a  heavy  sea  running. 


i86  THE  "EMDEN" 

his  ship  received  orders  by  signal,  "Get 
ready  to  coal."  He  thought  it  was  an 
impossibility,  and  that  it  would  end  in 
the  destruction  of  both  ships.  Six  or  eight 
hours  later,  he  had  to  admit  that  German 
seamen  do  not  allow  themselves  to  be 
hindered  by  swells,  or  heavy  seas  in  the 
discharge  of  their  duty. 

At  best,  the  transfer  of  coal  always  took 
a  long  time.  Nevertheless,  the  "Emden" 
sometimes  made  a  very  good  record  at  it. 
When  the  weather  was  unfavorable,  we 
took  over  about  forty  tons  an  hour.  But 
there  were  times  when  the  weather  favored 
us.  On  such  occasions  wc  averaged  seventy 
tons  an  hour.  Any  one  who  has  ever 
undertaken  to  coal  at  sea  will  appreciate 
that  this  is  good  work. 

We  coaled  alternately  from  the  "Buresk" 
and  the  "  Exford."  Even  though  the  "  Em- 
den"  by  no   means    escaped    injury   from 


OUR  DAILY  BREAD  187 

the  continuous  rolling  while  taking  on  coal, 
nevertheless  our  greatest  anxiety  was  always 
for  the  coaling  steamers.  We  feared  they 
might  not  be  able  to  endure  the  strain, 
although  they  were  both  very  recent 
products  of  English  shipyards,  and  were  on 
their  maiden  voyage.  But  they  were  so 
lightly  constructed,  and  so  poorly  built 
that  they  never  got  through  without  receiv- 
ing great  dents  in  their  sides.  Poor  stuff, 
they  were ! 

The  times  when  the  "Emden"  had  one 
of  her  coal  tenders  alongside  were  always 
hours  of  danger  for  us,  for  the  ship  could 
not  be  in  a  state  of  readiness  for  action  at 
such  times.  We  knew  full  well  that  death 
was  lurking  at  every  hand.  At  any  moment 
an  enemy  might  appear  on  the  horizon 
and  come  to  attack  us.  Then  there  would 
be  much  for  us  to  do  before  we  could  be 
ready  to  meet  our  foe.     While  we  were 


i88  THE   "EMDEN" 

coaling,  it  was  absolutely  necessary  to 
protect  the  guns  by  a  close  covering. 
Some  of  them  had  to  be  run  in,  for  while 
projecting  beyond  the  sides  of  the  ship 
they  were  in  danger  of  being  damaged.  It 
was  highly  advisable  for  us,  therefore,  to 
coal  as  speedily  as  possible.  The  men 
realized  this  fully,  and  always  did  their 
utmost. 

On  the  other  hand,  everything  was  done 
to  make  this  necessarily  strenuous  labor  as 
light  as  possible.  At  such  times  the  steward 
always  prepared  an  abundance  of  lemonade, 
which  was  poured  into  great  half-tubs  and 
set  in  readiness  in  the  forward  part  of  the 
ship.  This  drink  was  made  more  refreshing 
by  the  addition  of  ice.  Cans  and  cans  full 
of  the  cold  lemonade  were  passed  to  the 
men  who  were  at  work.  The  ship's  band 
played  lively  airs  the  while,  to  cheer  them. 
A  large  slate  was  set  up  somewhere  near 


OUR  DAILY  BREAD  189 

the  middle  of  the  ship,  where  it  could  be 
easily  seen  by  every  one,  and  on  it  the 
progress  made  in  coaling  was  recorded. 
At  the  end  of  every  quarter  of  an  hour 
the  number  of  tons  taken  aboard  appeared 
on  the  slate  in  large  figures  written  with 
white  chalk.  The  amount  accomplished 
by  each  watch  was  scored  separately. 
The  men  of  one  watch  were  eager  not  to 
allow  themselves  to  be  outdone  by  the 
others.  With  great  interest,  therefore, 
every  higher  record  made  by  the  one  group 
was  noted  by  the  men  of  the  other,  and 
when  their  turn  came,  strenuous  efforts 
were  made  to  surpass  it. 

Aloft  in  the  tops  sat  the  lookouts,  pro- 
vided with  glasses,  and  faithfully  searched 
the  horizon  with  keen  eyes  for  the  least 
indication  of  a  suspicious  looking  mast 
head,  or  speck  of  smoke. 

When  the  transfer  of  coal  had  progressed 


I90  THE  "EMDEN" 

far  enough  to  allow  the  coal  tender  to  pull 
off,  there  was  still  much  to  be  done  aboard 
the  "Emden."  First  of  all,  the  coal  on 
the  deck  had  to  be  piled  into  place;  when 
so  much  was  done,  at  least  the  greater 
part  of  the  dirt  had  to  be  removed  from 
our  sleeping  places.  Then  the  men  had 
to  wash,  get  under  the  shower  baths,  and 
put  on  clean  clothes.  After  that  came 
supper,  and  then,  —  to  sleep  in  the  ham- 
mocks. Often  enough,  however,  the  weary 
men  had  scarcely  got  to  rest  when  a  steamer 
would  appear  in  sight,  and  they  would  be 
summoned  to  renewed  exertion.  It  would 
then  be  hours  before  they  could  get  to  rest. 
Truly,  the  life  we  led  was  not  one  of  ease ! 
But  the  thought  that  it  might  be  otherwise 
never  suggested  itself  to  any  one  of  us. 
On  one  occasion,  on  a  night  when  the  men 
had  gone  to  rest  after  they  had  been 
strenuously   at   work   for   ten   hours,   our 


OUR  DAILY  BREAD  191 

Commander,  at  my  suggestion,  allowed  a 
steamer  to  pass  unmolested,  because  I 
told  him  that  the  men  appeared  to  have 
reached  the  limit  of  their  strength.  When, 
on  the  following  morning,  the  men  learned 
of  this,  a  murmur  of  disapproval  arose 
among  them.  "We  could  have  finished 
that  one  too,"  they  growled. 


VII 
DISTRESS  OF  THE  NIBELUNGS 


Chapter  VII 
DISTRESS  OF   THE  NIBELUNGS 

Upon  leaving  Penang  our  Commander 
decided  to  run  farther  to  the  south  for  a 
while.  It  was  to  be  expected  that  all 
shipping  would  be  kept  out  of  the  Bay  of 
Bengal  for  some  time.  Had  not  the  "Em- 
den"  given  indisputable  evidence  of  her 
presence  in  these  waters  by  the  destruction 
of  the  "Schemtschuk"  and  the  "Mous- 
quet"?  In  all  likelihood  the  search  for 
the  "Emden"  in  the  Bay  of  Bengal  would 
be  more  vigorously  pushed  now  than  ever 
before.  On  the  other  hand,  the  waters  in 
the  vicinity  of  Sunda  Strait  offered  a  more 
promising  prospect  as  a  hunting  ground 
for  the  enemy's  merchantmen.  Ships  of 
commerce  coming  from  Australia  hardly 
get   into  the   Bay  of  Bengal   at   all,   but 


196  THE  "EMDEN' 


strike  a  course  from  Sunda  Strait,  or  from 
West  Australia  directly  across  the  ocean 
to  Socotra,  and  thence  into  the  Red  Sea. 

The  first  thing  for  us  to  do  now  was  to 
look  up  our  coaling  steamer  "Buresk," 
which  had  been  dismissed  just  before  we 
got  into  Penang  harbor.  With  a  speed 
limit  of  barely  eleven  miles,  the  tender  was 
not  a  desirable  companion  during  an  en- 
gagement. 

Without  delay  we  found  the  "Buresk"  at 
,  the  appointed  place.  The  account  of  our 
successful  exploit  was  received  aboard  the 
"Buresk"  with  great  enthusiasm.  The 
two  ships  now  proceeded  southward  at 
their  usual  speed  of  eleven  miles.  Soon 
the  Dutch  islands  lying  along  the  west 
coast  of  Sumatra  came  in  sight.  As  mer- 
chant ships  usually  follow  a  route  that 
takes  them  between  these  islands  and  the 
main  coast  of  Sumatra,  our  Commander 


DISTRESS  OF  THE  NIBELUNGS        197 

chose  the  narrow  water  ways  of  this  region 
for  his  next  sphere  of  action.  Moreover, 
as  the  water  is  much  more  quiet  between 
these  islands  than  it  is  out  at  sea,  it  would 
be  much  easier  to  coal  there.  Furthermore, 
it  was  our  opinion  that  these  quiet  waters 
were  most  likely  to  be  frequented  by 
Japanese  and  English  torpedo  boat  de- 
stroyers. It  was  not  improbable,  therefore, 
that  we  might  catch  one  or  two  of  them 
there. 

While  we  were  in  the  vicinity  of  the  island 
of  Sima-loer  it  was  again  time  for  the 
"Emden"  to  take  on  coal.  The  sea  was 
very  smooth,  and  so  the  task  was  quickly 
accomplished.  Our  ship  lay  at  a  distance 
of  about  eight  nautical  miles  off  shore,  and 
quite  beyond  the  limits  of  neutral  waters 
therefoire. 

Nevertheless,  after  a  little  while,  a  fishing 
boat  propelled  by  motor  was  seen  coming 


198  THE  "EMDEN" 

toward  us.  The  Dutch  flag  was  flying  at 
her  mast  head.  She  brought  a  Dutch 
official,  who  came  aboard  the  "Emden/' 
and  introduced  himself  as  the  commandant 
of  the  island,  and  asked  if  we  were  not 
within  the  limit  of  territorial  waters.  If 
this  was  the  case,  he  must  request  us  to  go 
farther  out  to  sea,  he  said. 

Whether  this  was  the  real  purpose  of  his 
coming,  or  whether  he  merely  wished  to 
have  a  little  chat  with  us,  I  cannot  say. 
A  mere  glance  at  the  distance  must  have 
told  him  that  we  were  considerably  more 
than  three  nautical  miles  away  from  the 
shore.  He  remained  with  us  for  a  while, 
and  was  invited  into  the  presence  of  our 
Commander. 

From  this  Dutch  oflScial  we  learned  that 
Portugal  had  declared  war  against  Ger- 
many. This  afforded  us  considerable  merri- 
ment.    We  always  enjoyed  a  joke. 


DISTRESS  OF  THE  NIBELUNGS        199 

At  the  very  beginning  of  our  acquaint- 
ance I  had  unintentionally  offended  the 
commandant  of  the  island.  As  he  came 
alongside  in  his  boat,  I  mistook  him  for  a 
fisherman,  and  asked  if  he  had  any  fish  to 
sell.  To  this  he  replied  by  an  indignant 
negative.  However,  this  little  misunder- 
standing did  not  affect  our  further  ac- 
quaintance, and  he  seemed  to  feel  very 
much   at   home   in  our  mess. 

For  a  while,  the  "Emden"  continued  to 
cruise  about  in  the  vicinity  of  Sunda  Strait. 
But  not  a  ship  came  in  sight.  Evidently 
all  traffic  in  this  region  had  been  discon- 
tinued. Ordinarily  there  is  a  great  deal 
coming  and  going  through  Sunda  Strait. 

It  had  now  been  fully  two  months  that 
our  ship  had  been  beating  about  in  the 
midst  of  her  many  foes.  As  has  already 
been  said,  every  man  aboard  the  "  Emden " 
was  fully  aware  that  she  could  not  continue 


200  THE  "EMDEN' 


her  activity  indefinitely,  and  that  sooner 
or  later  she  must  meet  disaster.  Condi- 
tions were  steadily  growing  less  favorable 
for  us.  When  we  first  entered  the  Bay  of 
Bengal  we  could  count  with  certainty 
upon  the  circumstance  that  our  enemies 
were  not  anticipating  anything  so  audacious. 
For  a  while,  therefore,  we  had  little  to  fear 
from  war  ships,  as  there  were  hardly  any 
in  the  Indian  Ocean.  Most  of  them  were 
probably  in  the  Pacific,  engaged  in  the 
pursuit  of  our  armored  cruisers.  Soon, 
however,  we  learned  from  newspaper  re- 
ports, and  other  sources  of  information, 
that  a  considerable  number  of  war  ships, 
superior  to  our  own,  were  searching  for  us. 
Much  of  this  information  we  got  from  the 
crews  of  the  prizes  we  took. 

We  naturally  supposed  that  England 
would  follow  her  usual  tactics  of  misrepre- 
sentation, and  that  therefore  the  people  of 


DISTRESS  OF  THE  NIBELUNGS        201 

India  would  be  utterly  deceived  with  regard 
to  the  true  state  of  affairs.  And  so  it  was, 
for  at  first  all  the  English-speaking  Hindoos 
taken  from  the  captured  steamers  had 
but  one  story  to  tell,  —  continuous  German 
defeats.  Later,  however,  there  was  a 
change  of  tone.  One  native  of  India,  with 
whom  we  talked  toward  the  end  of  Septem- 
ber, said  that  English  newspapers  declared 
that  Germany  was  defeated.  Now,  how- 
ever, many  newspapers  of  India  pictured 
conditions  very  differently.  But  these 
papers  were  suppressed  by  the  English,  he 
said.  Nevertheless,  most  of  the  men  of 
India  felt  convinced  that  matters  were 
not  proceeding  as  favorably  for  the  English 
as  they  would  have  the  world  believe. 
It  was  his  opinion,  moreover,  that  "Eng- 
land by  and  by  finished." 

Another  Hindoo  related  a  peculiar  inci- 
dent.    He  told  us  that  two  English  cruisers. 


202  THE   "EMDEN' 


having  each  two  masts  and  two  funnels, 
had  for  some  time  been  held  in  the  harbor 
of  Colombo.  While  one  of  the  two  cruisers 
was  doing  guard  duty  out  at  sea,  the  other 
one  remained  in  the  harbor.  At  stated 
intervals  the  ships  relieved  each  other, 
the  one  in  the  harbor  going  out  to  take  the 
place  of  the  one  at  sea.  One  day  the 
cruiser  that  had  been  out  at  sea  returned 
with  only  one  funnel  and  one  mast,  badly 
battered  up  by  shells,  and  with  many 
wounded  on  board.  From  that  day  forth 
the  second  cruiser  was  not  seen  again. 
This  may  have  been  one  of  the  many  times 
when  the  "Emden"  was  destroyed. 

A  Chinaman  coming  from  Hong  Kong 
related  that  two  Japanese  cruisers,  badly 
damaged  and  with  many  wounded  on 
board,  had  run  into  Hong  Kong  one 
day. 

The    "Emden"    had    no    share    in    this 


DISTRESS  OF  THE  NIBELUNGS        203 

fight,  nor,  as  we  now  know,  did  any  of  the 
other  ships  of  the  German  squadron  take 
part  in  it. 

All  things  considered,  there  was  every 
reason  to  believe  that  the  "Emden"  was 
being  vigorously  pursued.  The  day  when 
her  career  must  come  to  an  end  could  not, 
therefore,  be  far  distant.  The  men  aboard 
her  did  not  allow  this  prospect  to  dampen 
their  spirits,  however.  When  the  fateful 
moment  had  arrived,  the  enemy  should  be 
made  to  realize  that  in  the  "Emden"  he 
had  met  a  worthy  foe. 

As  not  a  ship  made  its  appearance  in 
the  Sunda  Strait,  our  Commander  decided 
to  find  employment  in  destroying  the 
wireless  and  cable  station  on  Keeling  Island. 
Telegraphic  communication  between  Aus- 
tralia and  the  motherland  had  already 
suffered  considerably  at  the  hands  of  the 
other  ships  of  our  squadron.     The  station 


204  THE  "EMDEN" 

at  Keeling  afforded  the  last  opportunity 
for  direct  communication  between  Australia 
and  England.  Should  this  also  be  disabled, 
the  only  remaining  connections  would  be 
by  means  of  the  neutral  Dutch  cables,  via 
the  East  Indies.  We  naturally  assumed, 
therefore,  that  the  English  had  taken  every 
precaution  to  defend  this,  the  last  station 
remaining  to  them.  It  would  have  been 
an  easy  matter  for  them  to  station  a  hundred 
men  at  Keeling  for  its  defence,  and  so 
render  futile  any  attack  by  a  landing  squad 
from  the  "Emden." 

In  that  case  there  would  be  nothing  that 
the  "Emden"  could  do  but  to  shell  the 
station,  and  inflict  as  much  damage  as 
possible  in  this  way.  It  would  not  amount 
to  much,  however.  The  cables,  in  particu- 
lar, would  remain  intact,  and  for  all  the 
smaller  necessary  apparatus  on  shore  there 
were   probably  duplicate   parts  in  reserve. 


DISTRESS  OF  THE  NIBELUNGS        205 

by  the  use  of  which  the  station  could  be 
put  into  running  order  only  a  few  hours 
after  the  bombardment  had  ceased.  The 
English  had  reason  to  believe  also  that  if 
the  island  was  effectively  garrisoned,  the 
"Emden"  would  refrain  altogether  from 
shelling  the  station.  It  would  be  the  part 
of  wisdom  for  the  "Emden's"  Commander 
to  be  sparing  of  his  ammunition,  and  it 
was  not  at  all  probable  that  he  would  use 
it  for  the  purpose  of  temporarily  crippling 
the  telegraph  service. 

As  there  was  sufficient  reason,  therefore, 
to  expect  a  vigorous  defence  of  the  island, 
all  necessary  measures  were  taken  to  render 
the  proposed  landing  expedition  as  effective 
as  possible.  The  four  machine  guns  which 
the  "Emden"  carried  were  taken  along. 
A  squad  of  fifty  men  was  mustered.  In 
addition  to  the  machine  guns  the  men  took 
with  them  twenty-nine  rifles  and  twenty- 


2o6  THE  "EMDEN 


four  revolvers.  More  than  fifty  men  could 
not  be  spared  from  the  "Emden"  for 
landing  purposes.  Her  crew  was  too  small. 
Our  three  prizes,  the  "  Pontoporros,"  **  Ex- 
ford,"  and  "Buresk"  had  all  been  manned 
from  the  "Emden's"  crew,  besides  which  a 
few  of  our  men  had  been  needed  on  the 
"  Markomannia." 

On  the  night  from  the  eighth  to  the  ninth 
of  November,  1914,  the  "Emden"  and  her 
tender,  the  "Buresk,"  lay  fifty  nautical 
miles  to  the  west  of  Keeling.  The  coal 
tender  "Exford"  had  been  sent  to  a 
given  point  of  meeting  farther  out  at  sea. 
It  was  quite  possible  that  we  would  find 
some  English  cruisers  lying  at  anchor  in 
Keeling  harbor.  In  that  case  the  "  Buresk" 
would,  most  likely,  be  discovered  and 
captured,  while  the  "Emden,"  in  the  hope 
of  being  able  to  continue  her  activity  for  a 
while    longer,    would    seek    to    avoid    the 


DISTRESS  OF  THE  NIBELUNGS        207 

encounter  with  a  greatly  superior  foe.  She 
could  then  find  her  other  coaling  steamer 
somewhere  out  of  sight  of  the  enemy. 

That  night  the  "Buresk"  received  orders 
to  remain  at  a  certain  point,  fifty  nautical 
miles  to  westward  of  the  island,  and  not 
to  proceed  to  Keeling  until  ordered  by 
wireless  to  do  so.  After  accomplishing  the 
destruction  of  the  station,  our  Commander 
intended,  if  everything  went  smoothly,  to 
coal  in  Keeling  harbor. 

At  sunrise,  on  the  morning  of  the  ninth 
day  of  November,  the  "Emden''  lay  just 
outside  the  entrance  to  Port  Refuge,  the 
anchorage  for  Keeling  Island.  The  way 
into  the  harbor  was  a  rather  difficult  one, 
as  it  led  in  and  out  among  the  reefs;  but 
we  found  it,  and  the  "Emden"  dropped 
anchor.  The  landing  squad  was  ready  and 
waiting.  The  men  got  into  the  boats  at 
once,  and  put  off  for  the  shore  at  just  half- 


2o8  THE  "EMDEN^ 


past  six  in  the  morning.  They  landed 
without  encountering  resistance  of  any 
kind. 

In  two  hours  the  work  on  shore  was 
done.  The  landing  squad  was  just  about 
to  reembark  when  the  "Emden"  signalled 
by  searchlight:  "Hurry  your  work." 
Almost  immediately  after  the  signal  had 
been  given,  the  "Emden"  sounded  her 
siren.  This  meant  danger.  Our  men  of 
the  landing  squad  saw  the  "Emden"  sud- 
denly weigh  anchor,  turn,  and  run  out  of 
the  harbor.  The  attempt  made  by  our 
boats  to  overtake  their  ship  by  striking 
the  shortest  course  toward  her,  although 
it  led  directly  across  the  reef,  proved  of 
no  avail.  Soon  afterward  the  "Emden" 
ran  up  her  battle  flags,  and  opened  fire 
upon  an  enemy  not  visible  to  the  men  in 
the  boats.  Great  water  spouts,  caused  by 
the  plunging  of  shells  into  the  sea  close  to 


DISTRESS  OF  THE  NIBELUNGS        209 

the  "Emden,"  gave  unmistakable  evidence 
that  an  enemy,  though  unseen,  was  near. 

Ashore  on  KeeUng  Island,  and  unable  to 
do  the  least  thing  to  help  their  ship  and 
their  comrades,  our  men  of  the  landing 
squad  beheld  with  bitterness  the  unequal 
fight  that  now  ensued. 

The  "Emden's"  antagonist  was  the 
Anglo-Australian  cruiser  "Sidney."  She 
was  half  again  as  large  as  the  "Emden," 
built  five  years  later,  was  her  superior  in 
speed,  protected  by  side  armor,  which  the 
"Emden"  was  not,  was  equipped  with 
guns  that,  although  in  number  no  more  to 
the  broadside  than  the  "Emden*'  carried, 
were  of  a  caliber  that  was  one  and  a  half 
times  as  great,  —  conditions  under  which 
there  could  be  but  one  outcome  of  the 
battle.  For  the  "Emden"  the  hour  of 
destiny  had  struck. 

Soon  the  two  ships  were  engaged   in  a 


2IO  THE  "EMDEN" 

running  fight,  all  the  while  keeping  at  a 
distance  of  from  four  to  five  thousand 
meters  from  each  other.  From  ship  to 
ship  sped  the  iron  missiles  in  full  broad- 
sides. At  the  outset  it  appeared  that  the 
enemy  was  suffering  considerably.  The 
**Emden's"  first  salvos  found  their  mark 
forward  in  the  hostile  cruiser.  The  marks- 
manship of  the  English  was  not  much  to 
boast  of.  For  a  time,  not  a  telling  shot 
had  struck  the  "Emden,"  although  our 
gunners  had  given  a  good  account  of  them- 
selves. But  after  a  while,  a  well-placed 
salvo  struck  aft  on  the  "Emden."  The 
havoc  that  the  "Sidney's"  shells  of  great 
caliber  wrought  on  our  unarmored  cruiser 
was  tremendous.  A  great  blaze  started 
up  under  the  poop.  For  a  quarter  of  an 
hour  the  flames  leaped  upward  to  a  height 
of  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  meters. 
The  cloud  of  dense  grey  smoke  that  rose 


DISTRESS  OF  THE  NIBELUNGS        211 

from  the  ship  was  mingled  with  white 
steam,  an  indication  that  the  steam  pipes 
on  the  starboard  side  of  the  ship  had  been 
damaged.  Undaunted  by  the  severe  injury 
that  she  had  suffered,  the  "Emden"  now 
squarely  faced  her  assailant.  Putting  her 
helm  hard  about,  she  turned  upon  her 
enemy  and  took  up  the  battle. 

Unintermittently  the  forward  guns  of 
our  ship  poured  forth  their  shells.  A  few 
minutes  after  the  "Emden''  had  turned 
upon  her  foe,  the  hostile  cruiser  also  turned 
to  starboard,  and  ran  away  from  our  ship. 
As  in  the  meantime  we  on  shore  had 
observed  that  several  of  the  "Emden's" 
shots  had  hit  their  mark,  there  arose  within 
us  a  faint  hope  that  the  enemy  might  in 
some  way  have  received  a  fatal  blow. 
Evidently  this  was  not  the  case,  however. 
Although  the  "Sidney''  ran  off  at  high 
speed,     she     soon     turned    about.      Un- 


212  THE  "EMDEN 


doubtedly  the  purpose  of  this  manoeuvre 
was  simply  to  increase  her  fighting  distance 
from  the  "Emden,"  in  order  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  the  greater  cahber  of  her  guns, 
and  at  the  same  time  to  put  herself  beyond 
the  reach  of  the  "Emden's"  less  powerful 
guns. 

Meanwhile  the  "Emden"  had  suffered 
still  further  serious  damage.  While  turning 
about  to  make  a  dash  at  her  foe,  a  shell 
tore  away  her  forward  funnel.  Like  a 
huge  block  it  lay  across  the  forward  part 
of  the  ship.  Almost  at  the  same  instant 
another  telling  shot  carried  off  the  foremast, 
and  swept  it  overboard.  When  my  eyes 
beheld  this,  I  knew  that  at  least  one  of 
my  comrades  had  lost  his  life,  —  the  officer 
doing  observation  duty  up  in  the  top  of 
the  foremast. 

And  still  the  fire  continued  to  rage  on 
board    the    "Emden,"    although    it    began 


DISTRESS  OF  THE  NIBELUNGS        213 

to  show  signs  of  abating.  It  became  more 
of  a  smouldering  fire,  and  the  flames  gave 
way  to  a  thick  cloud  of  smoke  and  fumes, 
apparently  the  result  of  efforts  to  quench 
the  fire.  In  a  running  fight,  keeping  side 
by  side,  and  firing  incessantly  with  full 
salvos  upon  each  other,  the  two  contending 
ships  disappeared  beyond  the  horizon. 

The  fight  had  begun  at  half-past  eight 
in  the  morning.  The  landing  squad  from 
the  "Emden,"  was  now  getting  the 
"Ayesha,"  an  old  schooner  that  they  had 
found  lying  at  anchor  in  the  harbor,  ready 
to  put  to  sea.  In  case  the  "Emden"  did 
nqt  return,  the  men  intended  to  leave  the 
island  on  this  little  schooner.  During  the 
the  course  of  the  day  the  "Emden," 
still  fighting,  came  into  view  a  number  of 
times,  but  always  so  far  distant  that  she 
could  not  be  recognized.  At  intervals  the 
"Sidney's"   great   cloud   of  black   smoke, 


214  THE   "EMDEN" 

due  to  the  Australian  coal  that  she  was 
burning,  came  in  sight.  From  this,  the 
men  of  the  landing  squad  knew  that  the 
fight  was  still  in  progress. 

Toward  evening,  just  before  darkness 
set  in,  the  ships  came  in  sight  again.  They 
were  both  still  firing.  The  last  that  the 
landing  squad  saw  of  the  fight  was  the 
**Emden"  slowly  steering  an  easterly  course 
just  before  sunset.  The  ship  was  almost 
entirely  below  the  horizon.  Only  the  one 
funnel  still  left  her,  and  the  top  of  the 
highest  mast  were  visible;  this  was  just 
enough  to  indicate  to  us  the  speed  at  which 
she  was  moving,  and  the  direction  in  which 
she  was  going.  The  visible  distance  from 
Keeling  to  the  horizon  is  about  eight  or 
ten  nautical  miles.  It  is  clear,  therefore, 
that  shortly  before  sunset  the  "Emden" 
was  still  afloat,  and  not  more  than  eight  or 
ten    nautical    miles    distant    from    South 


DISTRESS  OF  THE  NIBELUNGS        215 

Keeling.  The  "Sidney"  was  somewhat 
nearer  to  the  island.  Her  masts,  funnels, 
superstructure,  and  upper  deck  could  all 
be  seen.  Both  ships  were  still  firing, 
although  the  "Emden's"  fire  was  inter- 
mittent and  not  strong.  Either  her  am- 
munition, upon  which  the  bombardment  of 
Madras  and  the  fight  at  Penang  had  made 
heavy  demands,  was  giving  out,  or  else  the 
majority  of  her  guns  had  been  silenced. 

At  sunset  the  "Sidney"  ceased  firing, 
and  was  seen  coming  back  on  a  north- 
westerly course.  The  "Emden"  was  steer- 
ing toward  the  east. 

Gradually  the  distance  between  the  ships 
grew  greater  and  greater,  until  at  last  they 
were  beyond  the  reach  of  each  other's 
guns.    The  fight  was  over. 

The  sun  set.  Darkness  fell.  Like  a  black 
shroud  the  night  settled  down  upon  both 
ships. 


2i6  THE  "EMDEN  = 


On  shore  the  landing  squad  was  getting 
ready  to  leave  Keeling  on  the  "Ayesha," 
and  go  in  search  of  the  "  Emden." 

And  so,  for  nearly  ten  hours,  our  ship 
had  maintained  an  unequal  fight  against  a 
greatly  superior  enemy.  How  great  is  the 
advantage  of  superiority  in  armor,  speed, 
and  caliber  can,  generally  speaking,  be 
appreciated  only  by  those  who  are  familiar 
with  naval  affairs. 

On  land  an  inferior  force,  strategically 
disposed,  and  taking  advantage  of  local  con- 
ditions, well  ensconced  and  protected  by 
wire  entanglements,  with  masked  batteries 
and  machine  guns,  can  no  doubt  hold  a  de- 
cidedly superior  attacking  force  at  bay  for 
some  time,  and  under  most  favorable  con- 
ditions may  even  prevent  the  latter  from 
accomplishing  its  purpose, — for  instance, 
from  breaking  a  way  through.  Under  such 
circumstances    the    assailants,   even   when 


DISTRESS  OF  THE  NIBELUNGS        217 

greatly  superior  in  numbers,  cannot  gain 
any  special  advantage.  Superiority  in  fight- 
ing strength  is  offset  by  the  favorable  lay 
of  the  land,  of  which  the  weaker  force  can 
take  advantage. 

Not  so  at  sea.  There  is  no  shelter  to  be 
found  there.  Granted  that  there  is  equality 
of  personnel,  the  battle  is  decided  by  the 
size  of  the  caliber,  the  quality  of  the  armor, 
and  the  degree  of  speed  possible. 

When  these  factors  are  taken  into  con- 
sideration, the  "Emden'*  did  marvelously 
well.  Unarmored,  less  speedy,  considerably 
smaller,  and  carrying  much  less  heavy  guns 
than  did  her  armored  antagonist,  she 
maintained  the  battle  for  nearly  half  a 
day,  until  darkness  put  an  end  to  it. 

The  men  of  the  landing  squad,  now  aboard 
the  "Ayesha,"  saw  nothing  more  of  the 
"  Emden,"  although  they  looked  for  her  all 
through  the  night.     Not  until  three  weeks 


2i8  THE   "EMDEN' 


later,  when  they  arrived  at  Padang,  did  they 
learn  what  had  been  the  fate  of  their  ship. 

The  tale  is  told.  The  "Emden"  is  no 
more.  On  the  rocky  reefs  of  North  Keeling 
she  found  a  grave.  But  as  long  as  the 
Monsoon  sighs  among  the  tops  of  the  tall 
pines  on  the  lonely  little  island  in  the  dis- 
tant Indian  Ocean,  and,  mingling  its  voice 
with  the  murmur  of  the  shining  white  surf 
that  breaks  on  the  shore,  chants  a  dirge 
for  the  "  Emden,'*  so  long  shall  live,  in  song 
and  story,  the  Flying  Dutchman,  the  brave 
little  German  ship  that  for  months  was  the 
terror  of  her  enemies,  in  1914,  during  the 
great  war  of  the  nations,  in  the  mighty 
struggle  for  the  freedom  of  the  seas. 

Ship  without  harbor,  knowing  no  ease, 
"  Emden,'*  flying  over  the  seas  — 
German  laurel  is  wound  round  thy  mast. 
Curses  of  England  are  chasing  thee  fast ; 


DISTRESS  OF  THE  NIBELUNGS        219 

Ship  after  ship  thou  sinkest  alone, 

And  the  sea,  the  sea,  the  sea  is  thine  own. 

Ship  without  harbor,  knowing  no  ease. 
Glorious  "  Emden,"  pride  of  the  seas  — 
Thou  hast  succumbed  to  an  enemy's  blow? 
Destroyed  by  flames  —  the  work  of  the  foe  ? 
Thou  hast  been  sunk  in  the  depth  of  the  sea  ? 
Thou  —  thou  art  dead  ?  Nay,  that  never  can 
be! 

Ship  without  harbor,  knowing  no  ease, 
Unforgettable  queen  of  the  seas! 
"Emden,"  thou  never,  never  canst  die: 
Over  the  seas  thy  shadow  will  fly. 
Ever  to  make  the  enemy  quail, 
Ever  in  German  hearts  to  sail! 

Maria  Weinand 

English  version  by  Margarete  Miinsterberg.     Poem  by  Maria 
Weinand. 


^H  INITIAL  ^"^^OF  ^.^„«!S 

OVERDUE. 


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